


paper cuts

by sauveznous



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Crimes & Criminals, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-07-06 10:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sauveznous/pseuds/sauveznous
Summary: Sana learned almost everything in the hardest way possible. She thought she was numb; but she was wrong.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [green window](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8346712) by [sauveznous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sauveznous/pseuds/sauveznous). 



> I hope everyone remembers Detective Minatozaki. Enjoy.

It was past 4AM. Sana knew her phone was ringing.

Her head spun so hard she refused to move. She had been trying her best to sleep since hours ago but to no avail. She didn’t know what happened, what she ate or did until she found it difficult to just _sleep_. During the day, there wasn’t any problem. She could doze off in her cube for an hour or two just fine. During the night, though, another story.

Her phone finally stopped ringing. Sana sighed, and right a moment later, it rang again.

She jolted awake when her bedroom’s door was roughly opened from outside. Narrowing her eyes, there was a younger girl, looking more pissed than her. Sana just stared in mum when the girl groggily walked to grab the phone from the nightstand and picked it up.

Yoo Jungyeon’s voice was too loud until Sana could hear it too.

_“Hey--”_

“Detective is sleeping.”

_“Oh, hi Mina, yes, I’m aware, but it’s important. Can you wake her up?”_

Mina took her specs off with a sigh, “I can. In two hours.”

_“But--”_

“Hey,” Sana finally sat up, extending her hand to the girl, “it’s fine.”

Mina glared at the detective, the lack of sleep made her scarier than usual, but finally gave in. She walked away with a loud yawn and didn’t bother to close the door. Sana peeked and saw the stack of papers on the dining table that kept Mina awake the whole night.

“What is it?”

_“Thank God you’re awake. We just got an emergency call like, half an hour ago. Some girl found dead. Heard it’s no good.”_

Sana rubbed her forehead, “Of course it’s no good. Someone died, Yoo Jungyeon.”

_“Yeah and that’s why I need you. Go to the address I’ll send you after this.”_

The glare was still sharp even from the kitchen. Mina was sitting on the kitchen counter, eating the bag of chips Sana bought her some days ago, with stern eyes telling Sana not to go. Mina had always had a lot to say about Sana being a workaholic, but it wasn’t like murderers had to wait for work hours to do their job.

A sigh, “Is it far?”

_“Not really. Around twenty minutes from your place.”_

Sana stood up then, closing the door while mouthing _sorry_ to the girl, “Okay. I’ll be there soon.”

-

It was the fourth death news Sana heard in a month. Good that the month almost ended, there was no need to complete the streak to five. The cases were already occupied by her colleagues and even though Sana was pretty much uncomfortable with Jungyeon’s obvious preferences, there was nothing she could do with the one who Chief trusted to replace him.

She didn’t even need a day to figure what Jungyeon wanted her to do. Not assigning some current cases to Sana said it all. She only wanted Sana to solve certain cases that met her own criteria. She didn’t want Sana to _waste her time_ in cases that even juniors could handle. The reason she gave Sana was that she wanted to give the young ones more chances, but it was too cliché and Sana knew better.

So she was kind of surprised Jungyeon called her for the fourth death. She thought she would stay jobless for the rest of the season.

Jinyoung was already there when Sana arrived in the dorm building. A university’s dorm.

“A student, living in this dorm, third floor, found dead about fifty minutes ago.” Jinyoung started explaining as they made their way to the crime scene, “Her friends, who are also living here, were the ones who called the police.”

Sana stopped to stare at the empty building, with the crowd of students being noisy at the side, “Looks small.”

“Yes. This is only one out of five dorm buildings the university has. There are five floors in total, with only six rooms available in each floor.”

“What time did you arrive here?”

“Less than twenty minutes ago, Sunbae.”

“Hmm,” Sana tied her hair in a messy ponytail, “if Jungyeon doesn’t appoint you as at least, the team member, I’ll sue.”

Jinyoung just smiled.

Sana knew she shouldn’t be feeling glad as she walked up the stairs to the third floor, because someone just died and unless there was a reason, no one shouldn’t be feeling glad at all, but she couldn’t help it. Yoo Jungyeon just left her to rot in her cube for weeks.

None of the past murder cases in the month that made headlines in portal sites were assigned for her. She wanted to ask Jungyeon about it, because of course she needed to do her job, but they had to be more careful because Jungyeon was no longer her mere colleague.

“How bad is it?”

“Well,” Jinyoung pursed his lips, “enough to make her friends lose their appetite for weeks, I guess.”

Room 33. Sana was far from bothered by the disturbing scent.

“There you are.” Jungyeon appeared from inside the room, pulling her mask down, “A case for you, finally.”

A raised eyebrow as Jungyeon handed Sana similar mask and gloves, “So you admit of purposely leaving me jobless.”

Jungyeon ignored her, “The name was Son Chaeyoung.”

She was a college student, majoring in physics, only three years younger than Mina. Sana admitted of feeling weird when she saw the sight inside the room. There was almost no place for the police officers to step their feet because of the massive blood. It was a whole mess in general and even without further information Sana could tell it wasn’t an organized murder.

“Did you take the body already?”

“Yeah.”

“Who called the cops?”

“The friends, there are five of them, three males, two females. They are all still unable to be interviewed, which is understandable. So we still don’t know what happened exactly.”

“One or some of them probably witnessed the murder.”

“I know.” Jungyeon agreed, “It’s only been less than an hour. We only have them as witnesses right now.”

Sana was too focused on the sight of the blood on the floor that she didn’t notice the posters that filled the whole side of the wall by the bed at first. There were ridiculously a lot of them plastered on the wall. The face on them looked strangely familiar. Sana turned to Jinyoung and the latter already knew what she wanted to know.

“It’s a famous idol, Chou Tzuyu. Ever heard of her, Sunbae?”

Sana frowned, “Who?”

“A big fan.” Jungyeon added, squatting down and pulled open a drawer, which was filled with CDs and things that Sana didn’t know what they were, all related to the idol, “This is why I wanted you for this case.”

The eyebrow was raised once more, “Seriously?”

Closing the drawer, Jungyeon stood up and pointed at one of the posters on the wall, “This person is going to be heavily affected. Her name will also be included in the news. Also Jinyoung mentioned that she’s famous, so the press will milk the shit out of her. While I do know it’s not her problem, she will still be involved, and it won’t be nice, not at all. And there is no one with more experience of dealing with people like this except you.”

“As far as I know politicians are not idols.”

“They’re all public figures. Same thing.”

“Why do you think this idol will care? She doesn’t even know her.”

“She cares about her reputation.” Jungyeon crossed her arms, “I know nothing about idols but for public figures in general, reputation is everything. She will deal with this, or her agency will, and you will deal with it.”

Sana went mum for a while, exchanging looks with the demanding Yoo Jungyeon.

“Okay fine, but I’ll choose my own team.”

Jungyeon didn’t mind, “No problem. Jinyoung will be working with you. Aside from him, it’s your decision to add more members or not. As the boys work on the crime scene and background information, you’re free to go until we get the results. And for the body, we have to know who Son Chaeyoung is first to get a permission for autopsy, so,”

Sana just nodded her head.

“From now on, it’s all your decision.” Jungyeon patted her shoulder, “Good luck and don’t get hurt, Minatozaki.”

-

_Friday, August 30 th, 2019_

Sana had just finished her cereal when Momo woke up from her short sleep. Or she had been awake for some time and Sana didn’t realize it. She was still kind of envious of Momo for occupying the comfortable couch in the corner of the working room filled with busy detectives.

“I heard Mina hated cereal.”

Sana wiped her lips with one eyebrow raised. Momo spoke the most random things when she wasn’t fully awake.

“She doesn’t. She hates me for eating it all the time.”

Momo sat up, stretching, “Why does she hate you so much nowadays,”

“She sleeps less than me. Maybe that’s why.”

The older one chuckled, “Damn. Why mechanical engineering out of all majors, you know.”

Sana shrugged, “Her choice.”

It was obvious that Mina enjoyed studying, even though she still wasn’t studious at all. In her senior year in high school, Mina could study for a test just _minutes_ before it started and still snatch perfect scores. Both Sana and the girl weren’t the best in following normal sleeping schedules so Sana was already used to the teachers complaining about Mina sleeping in classes almost all the time. But Sana didn’t mind. The kid was unique and she knew it.

When Mina told her she wanted to take mechanical engineering, Sana agreed right away and didn’t ask why. There indeed wasn’t any particular subject Mina was drawn in because she simply excelled in almost all of them, but Sana already knew why Mina would choose that one major. Studying kept her away from bad memories. And since she was, rightfully to say, intelligent, she needed an extra complicated major in order for her to study a lot more than she did in high school, so that she would be distracted from her horrible past.

Mina didn’t tell her about that; it was all Miss Kang. Sana still appreciated it, though. At least she was honest with her psychologist.

“Whoa, wait,” Momo’s eyes widened as she scrolled through her phone, “another murder? An idol? Wait, what?”

Sana nodded, “Yeah. It’s my case now. I finally have a job. Yay.”

“What happened?”

“A college girl found dead in the university’s dorm. She’s a big fan of an idol, has a lot of posters and CDs of her, you know.”

Momo scoffed, “I never know anything about idols, but the way the news dropped her name in the news instead of the victim shows her popularity. You’re going to have an extra hard time, Minatozaki.”

“I hope it isn’t too complicated. From what I saw, it didn’t look like an organized murder. Too messy. The culprit is most likely inexperienced. If I could finish this in like, two weeks, there wouldn’t be any problem, I suppose.”

“Any information so far?”

“No. Just the name; Son Chaeyoung. And the age; nineteen. Also the major; physics.”

“Hmm,” Momo put her phone down on her lap, “Mina’s age back then.”

Sana bitterly smiled, “That’s what I thought too.”

“She’s doing well, isn’t she? I don’t see her much since she graduated high school.”

“Yeah, very well. College keeps her damn busy. She doesn’t have the rights to complain about me going home late anymore.”

Momo smiled, “That’s good to know.”

Sana realized that Momo wasn’t lying after she got on her phone a few minutes later, while walking back to her cube. The idol was everywhere in the news. The office started getting noisy with people going back and forth. Sana got inside her cube and rubbed her forehead for a good minute. Yoo Jungyeon always knew the kind of murder cases for her to handle.

Jinyoung had left her an envelope on her desk before he left with the officers. It reminded Sana to pick more members because it would be too difficult for just two detectives. There were some papers and printed photos inside the envelope. Jinyoung had always been good in collecting information. He just needed two hours to get the exact information about Son Chaeyoung’s family _and_ their permission for the autopsy.

Sana examined them and circled some parts.

_Son Chaeyoung; 19 years old; second child._

_Parents; Son Haewook and Ji Seyoung_

_Sibling; Son Wonhyuk (older brother); 27 years old_

_Address; Seodaemun, Seoul, South Korea_

Sana paused after circling the last one. The family lived in Seoul, but Son Chaeyoung lived in a dorm, instead of her own house. Looking more like a troubled kid.

There was suddenly a knock on her cube. Sana looked up and found a young junior, still in his uniform, standing nervously. Sana needed to read his nametag to know who he was but she didn’t bother.

“What?”

“Sorry Sunbaenim but we… we’re currently… receiving many calls from the fans…”

“Fans?”

“The umm… the idol in your case, Sunbaenim…”

“Oh,” Sana rubbed her forehead again. She really needed more team members.

“I’ve asked Detective Choi about this and he said I should ask you, Sunbaenim.”

“Okay but what-- did they say anything or?”

“Most of them are asking questions about the idol and the case. Also, asking to take down the idol’s name from the news. And some even threatening to come here later this day--”

“But shouldn’t they ask that to the journalists?”

“Y-yes so we told them--”

“Don’t pick those calls up anymore. Say we’re sorry we can’t say anything and hang up. If they’re really going to be here later, kick them out. Hear me?”

“Yes, Sunbaenim.”

Hurriedly, Sana folded the papers and put them back inside the envelope before dashing off to the floor below hers. The officer didn’t lie about what he said. Sana heard countless of ringing phones on her way down. Yoo Jungyeon wouldn’t be able to work in peace from then on. Sana was glad she refused putting her own number for the homicide division.

The cube of the one she was looking for was empty. Sana sighed. She was about to ask where Jackson was but she saw him exiting the bathroom.

“Hey,”

“Oh hey,” Jackson smiled, half asleep, “I knew you’d come to me.”

“You’ve heard?”

“Yeah, of course? Big news. It’s everywhere.”

“Okay great, let’s get to work.”

“Well, unfortunately I can’t,” Jackson pursed his lips, “remember the homicide suicide?”

Sana frowned, thinking, before it came to mind, “That married couple? You still haven’t finished it?”

“Hey, it’s one complicated case, okay? It’s hard when you’re involved in other people’s love square and shit.”

A deep sigh, “Who should I go to, then? Is Youngjae with you?”

“Yes, he’s always with me, so you can’t take him.” Jackson looked around, “What about Jinyoung?”

“Already in my team.”

“Jae?”

“Wasn’t he moved to Daejun or something,”

“Ah, right. Umm…” Jackson tapped his foot, “oh hey, I know who. Dubu.”

Sana suddenly turned mum.

“She isn’t very busy nowadays. We’ve finished a case some time ago and I think she’s okay to go.” Jackson smirked, “Come on. Ask her. Don’t be a coward.”

“But I don’t--”

“Yes, yes, you don’t like her. We all believe it.” Jackson grabbed both her shoulders, turned her around and pushed her away, “Now go. Good luck!”

Sana was about to protest but he was right. There was no one else she could ask. Everyone was already occupied with something. It was all Jungyeon’s fault that she didn’t listen to Sana’s suggestion to recruit more detectives for homicide division. Having four murder cases in a span of a month already had them running around in panic, what if there were more?

She tried to be neutral in knowing that she still remembered where Dahyun’s cube was despite not meeting her for _months_. No, Sana didn’t avoid her. She got over it. They worked in the same place and same division. It would be silly for them _not_ to bump into each other at least once a week. But it still didn’t happen.

The realization made Sana stop walking instantly. Wait, if Sana didn’t feel like she avoided Dahyun but they still didn’t see each other in months despite working under the same roof, did that mean Dahyun was the one who avoided--

 _Whoa, okay_.

Shaking her head, Sana walked faster. That was _exactly_ why Sana should’ve avoided her.

Dahyun had just arrived in her cube. That meant she went home the night before. Jackson was right. She wasn’t busy. She still had time to go home. She would definitely have the time for the case later. Perfect.

The young detective wasn’t the only one who couldn’t hide her disbelief when Sana approached her cube. Probably the whole room had the same expression.

“Good morning, Sunbae.” Dahyun stood up, bowing, “Is there anything--”

“My case. Have you heard about it?”

Dahyun hesitated, “The umm… idol?”

“Yes. I need more people.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Can you?”

“Yes, sure.” It was surprisingly quick, “I will join you, Sunbae.”

“Good. Now go to the front office to deal with the fans. When you’re done, come find me.”

Dahyun hadn’t even nodded her head when Sana turned around and walked away. She hoped she would still have enough sleep in order to stay focus in the process.

-

_Please at least tell me you’re alive._

Sana smiled.

_Good to know you are too. Study well._

Mina never failed at making her do so.

“Some days you just need to have space for yourself.” Jungyeon said, after reading the papers.

“Yeah, some days, not every day. I’ll still highlight that part.”

If there was one thing Sana didn’t like after Yoo Jungyeon was appointed as the new general leader, becoming her new _Chief_ , was that she couldn’t work with her anymore. As what she was now in that position, Jungyeon would have to work on _all_ cases, and couldn’t focus on one. But her role was no more than giving certain directions and making limited decisions.

Sana hated it. She knew Jungyeon knew about it too. She also hated how Jungyeon didn’t need to work inside a cube any longer. She had her own spacious room. And Jungyeon also knew about it. So she let Sana be the only one who could come and go there without permission.

“Hmm… there’s indeed quite a gap between the siblings,”

Sana had highlighted some parts in the papers Jinyoung gave her and showed it to Jungyeon. She always did so every time she had a new case. It was a part of their agreement of wanting to still work together despite the formal protocol not letting them to.

“I’m surprised you took Dubu with you.”

“There’s no one else.”

“The least you can do is being nice to her.”

“I _am_ nice.” Sana frowned.

“You made her think you hate her.”

“I did not.”

“So why do you think she’s still scared of you?”

“Because--”

“No one’s going to kill you if you like her.” Jungyeon shrugged, sitting on her own working desk, facing Sana who was lying on the couch, “But if you mistreat her just because you can’t be goddamn honest, I’ll make sure you won’t come out alive.”

Sana rolled her eyes, “Guess I’ll die, then.”

“I’m being serious over here.”

“I’m being serious too.” Sana sat up and turned to Jungyeon, “Of course I’ll treat her well. You don’t have to tell me that.”

“Well, just to be sure.”

Sana was about to lie down again but her phone buzzed.

_Later tell me how Chou Tzuyu looks in real life._

“Wait,” Sana frowned again, deeper, “that idol’s going to be here?”

“Yeah, of course. Reputation, remember?”

_Is she really going to come to me though._

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“Tell you what? I don’t know when precisely she’s going to be here but I just _know_ she will be here sooner or later. I’ve told you that.”

_Yeah? Everyone already knows._

“And apparently Mina knows more than us now.”

“It’s an idol, Minatozaki. Youngsters flock to her. It’s no wonder Mina would know better.” Jungyeon gave the envelope back to Sana, “Go back to work. I’ll deal with the bigger parties if needed.”

Jungyeon gave the team, only three of them so far, the Room D as a place to work. By the time Sana got there, Dahyun was already making the room up, with the whiteboard already full with printed photos of the involved people. She gave a slight bow to Sana and resumed tidying the papers on the circle table.

Sana stopped her, “Have you had breakfast,”

“Yes, Sunbae. Before I got here.”

“Okay, but umm,” Sana hesitated and there was an awkward silence for a moment, “do you mind? I mean, I don’t want to seem like I’m forcing you to join my team or,”

“No, Sunbae.” Dahyun shook her head with a smile, “I don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

A firm nod, “Yes.”

“Okay.”

Both of them nodded their heads at each other and there was the awkward silence all over again. That wouldn’t make them work considering they were going to handle another complicated murder case. Sana looked around and saw the whiteboard, thinking that maybe Dahyun still had minimum idea of what was going on, and she decided to explain a little bit.

“Here, I’ll explain.” Sana walked to the whiteboard, followed by the younger one, “The victim is Son Chaeyoung, nineteen, college student, found dead this dawn. Here are the five friends that were found with the body, one of them called the police. Three males; Kim Daewoo, Lee Jaerim and Moon Jaesung, also two females; Seo Eunyoung and Kim Yerim. The last one, Kim Yerim, was the one who called the police. All of them are in the same batch but different majors.”

“Are they close friends?”

“We can’t be sure. They’re still too shocked to be interviewed as of now. But they are all living in the same dorm, same floor. One floor consisted of six rooms. So they at least saw each other daily while living there.”

Dahyun nodded as she took notes.

“According to Jinyoung, there was no sign of robbery, no stuff was stolen, so most likely, it isn’t the motive of the murder. Judging by the undergoing crime scene scan, and my own opinion, it’s too much of a mess to be called an organized murder. The culprit was too reckless. Blood was everywhere, even on the wall, which shows that there might be a fight by the victim, it wasn’t an instant death. It’s rather the culprit was inexperienced or Son Chaeyoung had the physical ability to put up a fight, or both, we can’t decide now.”

“But these,” Dahyun suddenly pointed at a photo of the crime scene, Sana looked closer and her finger was on the bookshelf by the wall that was stained by red blood, “books on top of the shelf are… too tidy.”

Sana narrowed her eyes, “Your point?”

“There’s a blood on the wall above the bookshelf. If it weren’t an instant death and the victim put up a fight, for the blood to be able to reach the wall, there had to be something happened to the bookshelf, Sunbae. It’s too tidy, no, actually her room’s too tidy,” Dahyun suddenly realized it and it made Sana eye the whole set of crime scene’s photos, “look, her books, her bags, her stuffs are all neatly placed. It’s nearly impossible to keep the room this tidy after a reckless murder, Sunbae.”

Dahyun was right. Sana had missed the details. Despite having blood almost everywhere, the room was still too tidy until it looked unlikely a murder just happened there. Sana nodded her head, gesturing Dahyun to take notes of it.

“You’re right.” She agreed, “It’s too tidy. Not even one book was off from where it’s placed. It’s weird.”

“Maybe the culprit purposely did so because they wanted us to assume it was an organized murder?”

“We need an exact image of her room before the murder to compare. We need to see the details of how the victim usually put her stuffs. Then we can compare with the condition after the murder to see if it’s the same person who did it or not. Or at least, if it’s really the culprit purposely tidying the room after the murder, if they really know Son Chaeyoung’s habit or not.”

“Yes, Sunbae.”

“Track her social media accounts. Kids like her are usually active with things like that, right? Instagram or Twitter or something, anything, we need to know everything about her. Her friends’ too, also the people she followed using her accounts. Track all of them. We have to know who she was close with.”

Dahyun nodded again, “Yes, Sunbae.”

“Also we still don’t know much about her family, Jinyoung’s still working on it, but I’ve highlighted some parts, wait.” Sana walked back to the envelope she had placed on the circle table and then gave it to Dahyun, “Here. Two things that I underlined; her family lives in Seoul, but the victim lived in a dorm, also there’s a pretty huge age gap between her and her older brother. The second one isn’t too weird but maybe we should take it into further consideration.”

“Seodaemun.” Dahyun read the address, “It isn’t too far.”

“When Jinyoung is back, you go with him to the family. I’ll go to the crime scene to make sure. If they, the family I mean, aren’t ready with your presence, just be subtle and observe quietly. For the friends, since it will take a little longer for them to ready to talk, we’ll just wait for three or four days at most, no more. We’ll waste our time. Later today we’ll discuss--”

There was suddenly a knock on the door. Sana sighed.

“Hi detectives,” Yoo Jungyeon pointed at the window, “you may want to take a look.”

Sana slowly walked to open the curtains. The sight outside really didn’t look good.

“What the fuck…”

“The idol’s currently on her way here. Down there are both the fans and the press. We can handle them, don’t worry, but for the idol, since she _personally_ requested to talk with the officer in charge, you have to handle her.”

“With that amount of people she won’t be able to even step her feet beyond the fence. Kick them out. This isn’t a concert hall for God’s sake.”

Jungyeon shrugged, “I’ve told you she’s popular. She’ll take the back door.”

“But--”

“She’s an important guest too. Public figures aren’t just politicians, Minatozaki. Drop everything for a moment and talk to the idol. She already has a good intention for coming here.”

Sana had to sigh for the nth time that day.

-

Momo offered her a candy. Sana gave it to Dahyun instead, who timidly said thank you to her.

“She’s damn popular.” Behind them, Jackson mumbled, scrolling through his phone, “Twenty-thousand upvotes on one of her articles and counting. There are also other news outlets using her name in their headlines. She also has been trending in the first place on plenty of portal sites for three hours by now and counting. This is no joke. She owns this country and we didn’t even realize it.”

“Yoo Jungyeon sure knows which case fits you best, huh.” Momo chuckled.

“I take my words back that politicians are the worst.” Sana couldn’t stop walking back and forth with her arms crossed, “At least they don’t have noisy teenagers on their backs.”

“They’re just teenagers, Sana, they’re harmless.” Jackson put his phone down, “They’re not those men in suits who are out to kill you if something weren’t in their boss’ favor.”

Sana just glared at him.

They didn’t need to wait for long. Sana thought there would be a bunch of people accompanying the idol, but there were only four of them present. Jungyeon introduced her to the idol, who turned out to be decently tall, a little below Sana’s height, with her managers altogether, all of them exchanging polite bows. Sana knew she couldn’t lie when she admitted, for herself at least, that the idol was really pretty even with shades on.

Sana didn’t prepare anything when they moved to the interrogation room. Jungyeon said she had got the permission from the idol to use the room instead of a normal one. So Sana came in bringing nothing but her phone and pulled her chair to sit across Chou Tzuyu.

She was still skeptical about the intention until the idol pulled her shades off. The eyes were swollen. Sana’s stare became softer instantly.

“It must be surprising for you.” The detective started.

“Yes, Detective.”

“Well, though I appreciate your effort of coming here personally, despite having packed schedules, I’m afraid I still can’t give anything to you. The murder happened just a little over five hours ago. If you’re here for some answers, we can’t give it to you.”

The idol kept mum. Sana continued.

“Also, we do really feel bad that you’re getting involved like this when it has nothing to do with you, but we can’t control the media.” The fans that couldn’t stop bothering the office were getting on her nerves, “If you feel it’s unfair that your name is being dropped everywhere, here isn’t the right place to let it out.”

“I know, Detective.”

“Then why are you here?”

Chou Tzuyu looked like she wanted to cry again and it made Sana stop talking, realizing that the idol in front of her was just a girl. She was probably only a year or two older than Mina. She needed to separate the person and the fans. There was no reason for her to be rude like that.

“For the fans, I deeply apologize.” Chou Tzuyu said, her head down, “I’ll try my best to make them understand they shouldn’t be doing this. About my name in the news, it’s no big deal. I’m used to it. The media has been using my name for the smallest things. Those aren’t the reason why I’m here, Detective.”

Sana nodded, letting the idol speak.

She then raised her head, her teary eyes made Sana feel even worse, “Son Chaeyoung; I remember her.”

“Pardon?”

“I remember her, Detective.”

Sana couldn’t help but frown. She already had tons of people waiting for her outside the office at that moment, which probably was just a small part of her huge group of fans. No matter how many events she had hosted, Sana didn’t buy that she remembered the faces one by one.

“How so?”

“I know it seems unlikely for you and I know it’s impossible for me to remember each one of them, but for someone like me, I do remember some fans that are… different.”

Deciding to give her a chance, Sana grasped her phone to take some notes, “Different?”

“I debuted almost three years ago and back then it wasn’t like how I am right now, so there weren’t much people present everywhere I went, but she was already there.”

Sana nodded. _A loyal fan since debut_.

“Because there weren’t many people, I could still remember them because they kept coming and I could memorize their faces. Some of them are still with me until now. I remember them, most of their names, where they’re from, but I can’t say that out loud in order for the others not to get jealous, but I do. That I can tell you I do.”

“Okay so… Son Chaeyoung is one of those fans you remember?”

“The thing with this particular one is,” The smile was bitter, and Sana noticed a dimple, “I didn’t know what her name is until today.”

Sana was confused once more, “So you’re saying you remember her but you didn’t even know her name?”

“In order for me to know their names, I have to talk to them. I have to ask them. And… not everyone gets the chance to do that.”

Sana was still confused.

“I remember her because she was different. I noticed her not just because she was with me since the very beginning but also because she wasn’t like the others.”

“How so?”

“You know how fans act, Detective. When I’m on stage, they run closer. But this one didn’t. She always stood at the back, watching from afar. Every time. Every single time she was present. She never tried to get closer to me, unlike the others. Maybe she was simply being civil, by respecting my space, but that made me remember her. For years she stayed with me, never once she moved from the back.”

Seeing how the tears threatened to fall down from Chou Tzuyu’s eyes, Sana no longer had the heart to talk back to the idol. She might be faking it for the sake of reputation, Sana was aware of that, but it wouldn’t hurt for her to just _listen_ for a moment.

“There are videos on in the internet,” The idol spoke again, fanning herself to prevent crying, “in case you don’t believe me.”

“Um, okay, I’ll take notes of that.” Sana tried not to stare because she was still feeling uneasy, “But how about the name? You said you didn’t know her name until today.”

“That, well,” Chou Tzuyu composed herself before continued, “for me to know some of their names I have to talk to them closely. I can’t be asking their names one by one. It… costs them more if they want to have a talk… you know, idol business.”

Sana actually had no idea, but she still nodded her head.

“I expected her to come, at least once. Most of the fans that have been with me for years would regularly come. But she never did. I figured that probably it’s too expensive for her. So I never talked to her. And there was nothing I could do about it. I never knew her name until today.”

“Hmm…” Sana had her palm under her chin as she understood nothing about those _talk_ things Chou Tzuyu just told her, “so people spend a lot of money just to talk to you.”

“Yes.”

“But she didn’t do it?”

“Yes, she never came.”

“But you said you saw her a lot?”

“Those were different events.”

“Oh…” Sana still had zero idea, but she decided to save it for later, “okay then, so the point is, you remember her even though you don’t know her name.”

“Yes, Detective.”

Sana was busy taking notes in her phone and Chou Tzuyu didn’t continue talking. She was about to ask more questions when suddenly her phone buzzed and Mina’s name appeared on the screen. Sana had to press the red button.

“I know that,” The idol continued, and Sana listened, “as a detective, it will be hard to believe someone like me. I’m not even sure that you know who I am until this happened. I know and I don’t mind. I just… I just want whoever did this to be caught. I just want to help…”

Jungyeon surely had her reason of why she chose Sana for the case. It wasn’t the first time Sana handled a public figure. Most weren’t nice experiences, but Sana admitted Chou Tzuyu was far from unpleasant. She had expected one-sided accusations and useless encounters, but their talk was nothing as such.

“I appreciate it, Miss Chou.” Sana said, giving a small smile, “I’m also very sorry that you’re getting involved in this.”

“It’s nothing for you to apologize. It’s already part of my life now. Also, here’s my number,” Chou Tzuyu suddenly surged forward and gave her a piece of paper, making Sana taken aback, “can you please tell me if there’s something I can help?”

“Oh, sure.” Sana accepted it hesitantly, “I’ll… I’ll tell you if we need something, if you don’t mind.”

Sana spent the rest of the hour after Chou Tzuyu left to learn about idol culture in order to understand what the idol just told her about. She also learned that Chou Tzuyu’s managers initially didn’t let the idol to share her personal number to anyone other than the ones she was permitted to, but she still did anyway. Seeing how determined the young idol to help even just a little bit, Sana felt like it was actually a huge helping hand and it would be stupid of her if she couldn’t finish it.

She would solve the case. Sana was sure of that. It wouldn’t be long until the one who was responsible would be in her hands.

****


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 930.

“What did she mean by talking and such?”

Because there were only the three of them, Sana decided they should go to wherever they headed to together. She didn’t have enough time to recruit more, and she didn’t feel the need to either. Jinyoung and Dahyun were already capable and they had the whole officer boys ready to help anytime.

_“Maybe she meant fansigning?”_

Sana frowned, _again_ , “What’s that?”

 _“It’s when the fans have their albums signed, face to face with the idols.”_ Mina explained, Dahyun taking notes at the back seat, _“They can hold a conversation for a few minutes.”_

“But you said it’s like a concert but with less performances and more interactions.”

_“That’s fanmeeting.”_

“Oh.” Sana exhaled, didn’t bother to give a chuckling Jinyoung a glare.

Mina continued, _“Compared to concerts and fanmeetings, fansignings cost way higher because the fans need to purchase a certain amount of album to get in. It’s by lottery, by the way, not all of them can attend. More albums purchased means bigger chance to get picked.”_

“So it’s for limited numbers of fans?”

_“Yeah, I guess.”_

The way the family of the victim showed zero sign of cooperation made Sana retreat her plan to visit. It would be too soon. The body was still in the process of autopsy too, so the timing wouldn’t be the best. They were heading to the crime scene to find some more clues, hopefully. Sana felt her right fist clenched and her fingers rubbed her scar, an old habit that never died, and didn’t do anything about it.

“Hey,” Sana asked after Mina had finished explaining, “how big is it?”

_“Really big. Spread real quick too. Everyone already knows her name; Son Chaeyoung, right?”_

Sana didn’t respond. Her fingers rubbed harder.

_“It’s bad, isn’t it?”_

“I don’t know for sure. The autopsy hasn’t finished yet.”

_“People have already found her social media accounts and such. Her face is already everywhere on internet now. There are so many information going around, just so you know. It’s all because of Chou Tzuyu.”_

“Yeah, I know that. I’ll finish this as fast as I can.”

Mina paused, Sana could hear the background noises disappear.

“Your lecturer already came, right? I’ll hang up. Study well.”

_“Okay. Be careful.”_

“I will.”

There were five dorm buildings in total, located in one area near the university. The murder took place in the smallest one. Sana took a look at the building for a while because it didn’t look too clear during the dawn earlier. She initially wanted to assume that it would cost pretty high seeing the condition but judging from the absence of security guards, Sana took that back.

“Facility-wise, it’s quite decent.” Jinyoung explained as he drove inside, “A room is for one student only and it’s spacious. Enough space to put desks and chairs, with clean bathrooms, medium single bed, there’s laundry and canteen in each building, and at the corner of the street, if we go straight a little more, there are convenience stores and cafés.”

“Minimum security, though?” Dahyun said and Sana was a little surprised because she was about to comment on the same thing.

Jinyoung parked the car, “Yes. That’s what it lacks.”

The dorm wasn’t marketed to be the best choice for students. There were a lot of other options that were better than the dorm; that for the students, the dorm was even seen as one of the last options. Most students who lived there were freshmen and Son Chaeyoung was one too. Majority of the past freshmen moved out after a year and the rooms were filled with the new freshmen all over again; rinse and repeat.

“Do they all have to move out once they’re no longer freshmen?” Sana asked, after exiting the car.

“It’s more like an unspoken rule, Sunbae.” Jinyoung answered, “They can stay if they want. Some even stayed until they graduated. But it’s just not common.”

“I see. Where’s everybody, anyway?”

“Temporarily left, maybe? No one wants to stay in a place where murder happens, I guess.”

Sana kicked a small stone, “Yeah, of course.”

Even though it was basically inside the whole area of the university, Sana didn’t feel like she had seen many students around. The dorm building was empty, even with the presence of the police officers who were on obligatory duty to stay around the crime scene, the environment around them screamed emptiness all over. Sana knew after what had happened, she could guarantee none of student dared to step their feet into the building, but a university wasn’t supposed to be _that_ quiet. She looked around, searching for someone, anyone other than the three of them and the officers, but there was none. That was just how quiet the place was.

“Does it normal for a university to be this quiet?” Sana put her hands on both sides of her hips, still looking around, “I once picked Mina up from a class near midnight and her campus was still packed. Probably because they’re engineering students, though.”

“The main building of the university is a bit far from here. A little too far for a walk, so, maybe that’s why, Sunbae.”

Sana could already guess it all, “This building basically gets left empty every day, especially during study hours like now, or maybe during a university event, whenever students are required to go. Minimum security and quiet environment. Perfect. Let’s go up.”

The dorm building didn’t even have CCTVs. Sana hated people who built buildings without CCTVs. They might be rich, but they were stupid as hell. A lot of cases could’ve been solved easier and faster with the existence of CCTVs.

“I’ve found her social media accounts, Sunbae.” Dahyun suddenly said, catching up to Sana as they walked up the stairs, “But the only one I can access to so far is her Instagram.”

“Hmm, and?”

Dahyun stopped her, showing her own phone to Sana, “You may want to look at this.”

It was a nicely taken picture of Son Chaeyoung’s room. Sana grabbed the phone and looked closer. It was just the room. The victim wasn’t there in the picture. She still remembered the crime scene. The picture on the Instagram was definitely the dorm room belonged to Son Chaeyoung.

“This was uploaded two months ago, Sunbae. It’s the same room, right?”

Sana nodded, giving the phone back, “Yeah it is. It’s the condition before the murder happened. We can match this picture with the current condition of the crime scene.”

Dahyun nodded and put her phone back into her pocket, “Yes, Sunbae.”

The unpleasant scent of blood was no longer there when they reached the room. The police line was a little too excessive but Sana didn’t feel the need to complain. The officers weren’t going to be there all the time. Curious students could barge in anytime without the police knowing, especially if they lived there. Sana knew they really needed to be extra to avoid unwanted things as such.

The officers in charge would never, ever touch the crime scene inappropriately. There would be no change in the condition of the crime scene since the body was found. They did move the body and cleaned the blood, but other than that, Sana had never encountered an officer who touched things they shouldn’t lay their hands on. It was only them, the investigation team, who was allowed to do so. And because of that, Sana believed in Dahyun’s assumption of the room being too tidy despite having someone murdered there.

The room was still exactly the same as what Sana remembered. The things she paid attention the most earlier during the dawn was the posters on the other side of the wall, indeed, so she tried to ignore them that time.

“I know a tidy room when I see it.” Sana mumbled, putting her rubber gloves on, “The body and blood aside, your honest opinion, does this room look tidy?”

Jinyoung nodded, “Yes, Sunbae.”

“Exactly.”

Sana was relieved when she saw the bloodstain on the wall above the bookshelf was still there. It was a bit below Sana’s eyes and created such pattern similar to a paint being splashed. It wouldn’t exist if it were a quick death. There had to be some kind of a fight, a self-defense, for the blood to reach the wall.

“How tall was the victim?” Sana asked.

Jinyoung hummed, “We don’t know for sure but probably around Dubu’s height.”

Sana turned to the youngest, whose head only reached her chin, “This small?”

Jinyoung held his laugh seeing the cute pout and so did Sana.

“I’m just kidding.” She pointed at the blood on the wall, “If she were shorter than me, how could her blood reach this part of the wall? It’s exactly as tall as Dahyun.”

“Maybe there was a fierce fight?” Dahyun said, “If she were physically capable, though.”

Sana traced the blood, “I do think there was some kind of a fight too but it’s on a pretty tall spot. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t this tall.”

Dahyun started taking notes.

Sana looked around, and murmured, “There also should’ve been a noise.”

Dahyun looked up at her, “A noise?”

“You do think that this isn’t some quick death, right?” Sana asked and Dahyun nodded, “The victim might put up a fight. And there should’ve been a noise because of that.”

“We need to ask her friends,” Jinyoung said, knocking the wall, resulting in moderately loud thud noises, “if they heard anything or not. Those friends who called the police all live here, on the same floor.”

Sana understood, “Give them some time. Like the family.”

She then averted her attention to the bookshelf. It was short, only reached her chest. The books on it, though. They were placed so neatly. None was out of place. Sana put her hand onto the books that were placed on the top shelf, then shaking it slightly, resulting in creaking noises of the bookshelf.

She was sure, “There had to be noises. There’s a blood on the wall above this noisy bookshelf and there was still no noise? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Dahyun understood and wrote the assumption down.

Sana squatted down in front of the shelf, meeting the middle row of books, there were total three rows, extending her hand to Dahyun, “Give me your phone. That picture of her room.”

It was all still an assumption, but Sana was sure the bookshelf wasn’t left untouched. The bloodstain on the wall right above it was an enough proof. The books were too neatly placed. Sana didn’t buy it.

“Was she an overly organized person?” Sana asked, comparing the bookshelf on the picture and the real one in front of her.

“We don’t know yet Sunbae, but--”

“Try to find it later and tell me about it. I’m just trying to see if--”

Sana stopped immediately. She realized it.

In the picture from Son Chaeyoung’s Instagram, the books were placed really neatly according to the color and the shades. Bold colors were in the lower shelves and the top shelf was filled with books in lighter colors. Sana noticed it. She also noticed the current bookshelf right in front of her was in the exact same condition.

Dahyun and Jinyoung realized it too as the three of them examined the books one by one by the title to match the picture. They all matched. There was no book missing. Even each of them was placed in exactly where they were supposed to be according to the picture.

Dahyun glanced confusedly at Sana, “Was this bookshelf really not touched, Sunbae?”

Sana shook her head, “I doubt that. Take a picture of the shelf right now.”

Jinyoung did so with his phone.

After the picture was taken, Sana quickly stood up and pulled the bookshelf harshly until it fell down onto the floor near her feet. The only books that fell out of the bookshelf were the ones on the top shelf, since the other two rows were too packed, none of the book fell. It made a pretty loud noise too, she was sure people outside could hear it.

Squatting down again, she examined the books that fell onto the floor. She didn’t come up with nothing. She had a proud smile on her face as she found three of the total five books had obvious bloodstains on both their front and back covers.

“The books fell.” She concluded, “At least the ones on the top shelf did. They touched the floor, they touched the blood, resulting in bloodstains. Take these three books with us. We can use them as our evidences later.”

“But why?” Dahyun was still confused, “Why the need to put them back in place?”

“I don’t know.” Sana shrugged, “The culprit was under a huge pressure. They just killed someone and they had a pretty big chance to get caught, most likely, since we still don’t know how this dorm was when the murder happened. It was probably a spontaneous act but with muscle memory.”

“Muscle memory?”

“They remembered exactly how the books were supposed to be placed. They put them in the exact order. They _knew_ how to put them, even in a chaotic situation. I think it’s some kind of a muscle memory. The head didn’t work so well but the hands remembered.”

“But it could be from the bloodstain on the wall, Sunbae. Not from the floor.” Jinyoung argued.

“Yeah, but look, the bloodstains we found on these books are on the covers, not on the top of them. They were placed here,” Sana put her hand on the, now empty, top shelf, “if the blood on the wall dripped on them, it should’ve been on the top of the books, right? Not on the side or the cover like, they were placed covers to covers, it’s unlikely.”

Jinyoung went mum for a while before agreeing, “Yes, Sunbae. You’re right.”

“So these books initially fell,” Dahyun tried to make a conclusion, “there were bloodstains on the covers, but the culprit somehow decided to put them back into their places, and didn’t make any mistake because it really matched the bookshelf in the Instagram picture, right, Sunbae?”

“Yes.” Sana nodded, “It’s someone she was close with. Someone who really knew her habits down until how she put her goddamn books on this particular bookshelf. Even under the pressure, right after committing a murder, they still managed to make zero mistake of putting these books according to the order that had been set by Son Chaeyoung, judging from this picture. We’re going to need more pictures of her room other than this one so please find them. Until then, that’s the best assumption I can come up with.”

Exhaling a heavy breath, Sana stood up and walked to the window, trying to get some air. She didn’t realize how hot it was until she opened the window and let the wind in. She told her juniors to leave the bookshelf that way, as it was seen as a proof of their crime scene scan. Jungyeon might inspect some time later, and Sana didn’t want to explain bit by bit of what they did during the investigation period. Jungyeon was way stricter than Chief, and Sana was happy with that, honestly, until she experienced the strictness herself.

“Can I search for something more in this room, Sunbae?” Dahyun asked, and Sana just nodded with a small _yeah_ , “Thank you, Sunbae.”

They didn’t need to look too far if they followed the assumption. They could just look at the people closest to Son Chaeyoung. It could be anyone, Sana knew, there might be someone only Son Chaeyoung knew, but narrowing down the possible suspects already made her feel confident she could finish it quickly.

“Sunbae,” She heard Dahyun calling her again, “will you take a look?”

The young detective was squatting down holding two different file holders, both were empty. Sana walked and squatted down beside her, taking one of the file holders. There was a pink post-it plastered on it.

_Chou TZ_

Sana raised her eyebrows, “Chou Tzuyu?”

“I think so. I found both under the desk.”

Dahyun gave her the other one. There was also a post-it on it and it was light blue.

_Park SY_

Sana pursed her lips reading another name, “Is this… another idol or?”

Dahyun smiled a little and shook her head, “I don’t know much about idols to answer that, Sunbae, sadly.”

“Hey,” Sana called Jinyoung, who seemed to know more, “is there any idol with _Park SY_ as the initial or something? Or an actress maybe? An actor? Singer? Some public figure?”

Jinyoung hesitated, his face showing that he was just as clueless, and Sana waved her hand after three seconds telling him to ignore the question.

Sana made sure both file folders were indeed empty before giving them back to Dahyun, “Bring these with us. Let’s find who _Park SY_ is. Maybe they’re someone important.”

“Will do, Sunbae.”

Sana stood up, getting bored of the blood-stained wall, and turned around to the wall with posters on it. She also noticed the drawer that Jungyeon opened earlier during the dawn, with CDs and stuff. Sana still didn’t feel the need to examine it. She had zero interest in the idol, although she really got to admit, that the idol was way prettier in real life.

“Do you guys think she will really help? Or was it all just some publicity stunt?”

Both her juniors just smiled while shrugging. Sana understood it too.

“She gave you her personal number, though.” Jinyoung said.

“Oh yeah,” Sana almost forgot about that, “please don’t mention it when Mina’s around. She may act all cool but deep inside she’s a little girl too. She’s going to go crazy if she knows. And she won’t keep it just for herself, I’m sure of that. It will make the matter worse.”

Her juniors laughed, they were no stranger to Mina, “We won’t, Sunbae.”

Sana smiled at them too then, because it was easier to do so nowadays.

-

The news wouldn’t shut up about it.

Sana was already used to it as another news show on the TV reported about _the death of Chou Tzuyu’s fan_. They didn’t mention the name, as Yoo Jungyeon repeatedly told the journalist to not release Son Chaeyoung’s name, but it was no use. Everyone in the whole country already knew who she was. It was merely for ethical purposes.

The Son family wasn’t like her expectation. They were loaded. Extremely loaded, to be exact. They sent some of their family lawyers to meet Sana and the team earlier, to discuss about what the family wanted Sana to do, and what they would give Sana if in the end the detective could do exactly like they wanted. Sana was a bit taken aback, of course. Solving cases was her main job, without being asked she would catch the culprit, so she didn’t expect to be offered those bucks just for doing her job.

She dismissed them politely. But lawyers were lawyers, and they didn’t back down even after some long arguments. Sana appreciated it still. At least the family acknowledged her role.

She was also advised not to come too soon to the family. They were still not ready. If Sana wanted anything from the family, she could ask them instead, as they had been working with the family for the longest time, they said. Sana partly believed in them, though she was sure sooner or later she would go straight seeking for the actual family members. There were things she couldn’t discuss with anyone else other than the family themselves. She just needed to find a perfect time.

“They’re rich.” Sana said, her palm under her chin, “They must have some enemies.”

Momo wouldn’t stop spinning in her seat across her, “Do they own a company or something?”

“Yeah, I heard.” Sana nodded, eyes droopy because the sun was already down and she hadn’t slept since yesterday, probably, she didn’t remember, “A telecommunication company. Pretty damn big. That’s why they’re extremely private.”

“Well then yeah, there have to be enemies. A rival company, probably? Like in those dramas.”

“Yeah but the one murdered was the daughter, not the parents, also in a most reckless way ever. If I were their enemy, I’d hire a professional to murder the current owners, the parents, and make sure everything was clean cut, no detective could solve it.”

“But you’re not them.”

A silence, before Sana sighed, “Right.”

Momo chuckled, “Forget about it. I know nothing about the case.”

Sana was quite surprised that the family didn’t do anything about the news. They were rich enough to have at least a power over the media. But they still kept silent and didn’t seem to mind the whole country to know their daughter had been murdered. Sana knew they were the low-profile kind of rich family, but it was pretty rare to see some rich ones not using the power they had.

“But maybe you’re right too.” Sana added, “They’re doing nothing about those news until now even though it’s their daughter the whole nation is talking about.”

Momo raised her eyebrows, “And?”

“Maybe they plan on avenging?”

There was a silence for a moment, before Momo laughed, “You’re tired, Minatozaki. Really tired, you know that?”

Even without Momo saying that, Sana already knew.

Momo continued, “I heard there are some friends too.”

“Yes. Her friends in the dorm. They lived on the same floor. They’re back with their families now and I won’t bother them until some days after today.”

“How long exactly are you going to wait?”

Sana hummed, “Four, five days? They’re young. It’s already hard for them. I don’t want to force them to do things too quickly.”

“I feel really bad for witnesses, honestly. They’re not involved yet traumatized to the bones. Not every day they see someone gets murdered. It must be hard.”

“Yeah,” Sana agreed, though she couldn’t relate anymore because she had been seeing murders for almost twenty years, “they need some time.”

There was another silence, until Momo stopped spinning and said, “You know, sometimes I think that it would be great if we could lose our job.”

Sana lazily looked up at her, “Hmm?”

“Like, our job basically exists because there are bad people out there who take others’ lives on their own. If we lose our job, it means we also lose that kind of people, and I honestly don’t mind with that.”

“We all don’t. The busier, the worse. This month especially. Almost all of us here are occupied with our own cases that we sometimes dismissed the fact that there are indeed a lot of monsters around us in this city alone.”

All of them had thoughts about it before, even until now. During her first year in the homicide division, there wasn’t a day passed without Sana sitting by herself in her room at nights thinking about how people could be so evil, but as she got older, she just got used to live with it.

“Anyways, what have you got so far?”

“Well, so far I’ve got,” She opened her notes, “possible bad relationship with the family, since they all live in Seoul but Son Chaeyoung chose to live separately, quite an age gap with the older brother but I don’t think it’s much of an issue, and the culprit is most likely someone she was really close with. Someone who spent a lot of time in her dorm room.”

Momo took Sana’s notes, “Hmm… a girlfriend? Boyfriend?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Also… don’t you think her family has no idea too? She lived separately the whole time, or at least since she entered college.”

“But isn’t that what most rich families like?” Momo asked, “Bad relationship between the family members. It can even go to the extent of not remembering the children’s birthdays or how old they are.”

Sana agreed, “Yeah, it’s not new. Also considering that she was rich, Son Chaeyoung somehow chose the university’s dorm, which is considered as one of the last options for a place to live, according to Jinyoung. Like, she could’ve picked a nicer apartment, for example.”

“Because of her friends, maybe? My friends live here so I’ll stay here too?”

Sana paused for a moment, staring blankly at her notes, before nodding, “Yeah, yeah, that can be.”

Momo laughed again, patting Sana’s head, “You’re tired. Go get some sleep. A team leader telling her members to take some rest while she’s here looking like she’s dead inside is something you hated when you were a team member, you know.”

“It’s fine. I just got a new case and it’s pretty interesting. The curiosity still keeps me awake. I feel like I’d miss things if I slept.”

“You wouldn’t. Sleeping for some hours won’t hurt. And you’ll be going home, right? Or have you told Mina you won’t?”

“I already told her I’ll be late.” Sana had never spent a night not going home for some good time and she didn’t want to break the streak.

Momo started spinning again, “Mina really does have power over you.”

Sana couldn’t agree more, “More than you think.”

-

It was almost midnight when Sana got a call from the hospital.

She was indeed tired but her curiosity always won. She agreed on meeting the forensic team for a short moment, to discuss a little bit about the autopsy. Sana wasn’t very good in learning about the post-mortem tests procedures, but one thing for sure, the team always worked fast, and they would always be glad to help every time Sana needed them.

Sana admitted of feeling a bit eerie going to the autopsy room in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t something she wasn’t familiar with. Some of the forensic team members were outside when Sana came and they immediately knew who she was looking for.

“Minatozaki!”

The team leader, Son Seungwan, Sana’s closest forensic pathologist friend came from inside the room and Sana didn’t hide her relief in knowing that Seungwan was the one in charge. It was always weird in encountering Seungwan. With how bright she was, she looked like she worked as a kindergarten teacher instead of someone who examined dead bodies.

“Hi,” Sana returned the hug when Seungwan literally jumped at her, “long time no see.”

“Does Yoo Jungyeon have something against you or what?” Seungwan jokingly asked as she pulled back, “I haven’t been seeing you around for months!”

Sana rubbed her nape, “Yeah, her own personal agenda, I guess,”

Seungwan smiled as she looked at Sana, “Why won’t you go home and sleep? Look at those eye bags. I have some too and I don’t plan on keeping them. We can talk tomorrow.”

“Yes but no, not tomorrow. You know I’m too curious.”

“Sure, I know.” Seungwan giggled, “How’s Mina?”

“Um, yeah, good. Studies well. Still struggling with her sleeping schedule like all of us.”

Another giggle, “She’s your child after all.”

“Right.” Sana nodded, chuckling a little before turning serious, “So, how is it?”

Seungwan’s expression changed as she put her mask back on, before giving Sana a similar one with a pair of rubber gloves, “Well, I think you should see it yourself.”

The first time Sana stepped inside an autopsy room was when she was in her early twenties. Back then she was already used to dead bodies, yes, but not dead bodies being cut open right in front of her eyes. After the visit she hid herself in the bathroom on the highest floor of the office, sobbing silently because she just couldn’t stand of how meaningless a life could be. Years later, the memories were still fresh in her head.

She still felt uneasy when Seungwan pulled the sheet off to uncover the lifeless body lying on the cold autopsy table.

“We’ve stitched her up, no worries,” Seungwan never budged, and Sana always asked herself of how Seungwan could do it, but practice makes perfect, “we’ve taken decent samples for further tests and as far as my knowledge goes, she was a pretty healthy young girl.”

“No illness?”

“Nope. Everything seems good. Her vital organs were normal. There was no sign of excessive drug use and such.”

“Okay.” Sana crossed her arms, “The cause of death?”

“I’ll be fast since you’re tired. As usual, the final result will need a few weeks to be finished so, I’ll just explain the overall findings. And oh, she died not long than three to four hours before the body was found. We still need more examinations to make sure but it’s the best estimation I can give you for now.”

Sana nodded, “Okay. Go on.”

“We found some bruises on her body, like on her right bicep, left forearm, both left and right shoulders, left thigh and some on her back too. They’re quite severe. It’s similar to the bruise you get from a solid punch.” Seungwan raised the victim’s left arm, “Here, on the forearm, there’s a huge bruise, and I assume it’s from some kind of a self-defense.”

“Oh, like, making an X with your arms.”

“Yes, yes, that’s what I meant. She most probably did so when she was being attacked.”

“So it wasn’t a quick death.”

“No, I don’t think so. That’s not all, by the way. There’s also a pretty severe head injury.” Seungwan softly put the arm back down and pointed at the head, “It looks like her head was hit with something strong. It caused a subarachnoid hemorrhage; bleeding within the brain tissue.”

Sana was mum for a moment, “Is it dangerous?”

“Well, it can cause some headaches or vomiting, the short-term effects. And oh by the way, I’m explaining this to you in the order of the attacks happened, according to my opinion at least.”

“Oh I get it, she at first tried to defend herself, hence the bruises, before being hit on her head?”

“Yeah. That’s right. My theory is, after the head injury, she couldn’t do more self-defense, and it resulted in the stabbing.”

Seungwan’s fingers moved to the abdomen. Sana noticed them earlier. Those were stab wounds.

“Five times. Five stabs. But not too deep. They’re… I don’t know how to say it but, clumsy? Unlike those organized murders where they know where to stab to make sure of a death, it’s more like the umm, _stab! stab! die!_ kind of stabs, you know.”

Sana could understand and smiled a little at Seungwan’s cute imitation, although she would never understand _how_ Seungwan could do it under the circumstances, “It’s someone who doesn’t know how to do it. Someone who has never done it before.”

“Yes. Someone who just… stabbed. Without knowing what they were doing, what they were stabbing, which part of the body.”

It all matched with her assumption of the culprit being reckless. They weren’t some hired professional assassin. They didn’t know what exactly they were doing other than making someone lose their life.

Sana was nodding her head when she realized something, “But the blood. There was so much blood everywhere on the floor when the body was found, like, a pool of it. If the stab wounds weren’t deep and clumsy where did the massive blood come from?”

“That, I haven’t told you yet.”

Seungwan pursed her lips and carefully moved the victim’s head to expose the neck, giving Sana a better view. Sana’s breath almost hitched at the sight.

“Slashed.”

A cringe, “Geez, these inexperienced murderers,”

“They wanted to make sure that she was dead right at that moment. Another proof of the whole clumsy scenario. The throat got slit deeply. It reached the windpipe and the main blood vessels. After the slit, it became a quick death, indeed. But it was also very painful.”

The detective was picturing it. Seungwan was explaining the cause of death in order, which meant the throat slit happened after the abdomen stabs. The victim was already weak and impossible to overpower the culprit. She was already lying flat on her back on the floor and got her throat slit. Hence the pooling blood by the floor next to the body.

Sana bit her lower lip at the image in her head, tearing her eyes from the body for a moment, “You’re right. They were clumsy. If they were experienced, they could’ve gone straight to the neck, or a deep stab right to the vital organs. Those earlier attacks were unnecessary.”

“Yes, true. Also keep in mind that they surely had a lot of time doing these several attacks in one murder. I know nothing about the crime scene, but you may want to consider it. These attacks took some good time. It wouldn’t be likely in places where people would easily find out.”

Sana sighed, finally letting it out, “It’s a cheap dorm building with minimum security. Sounds fit, but she wasn’t the only one who lived there. There were the friends, there, on the same floor. Where were they?”

“I guess you haven’t interrogated them? You can discuss it later with the team about the time aspect. It’s really important, I think.”

Sana kept that in mind, “I will.”

“And umm…” Seungwan looked down, fingers tapping the autopsy table noisily, “That is all about the whole injuries and cause of death but… actually there’s one more thing you need to know about the victim. This isn’t rare but… this will shock you a little, I think. I didn’t see it coming too, at all. Also can be your huge clue.”

The detective frowned deeply, feeling a little bit worried all of a sudden because of how serious Seungwan sounded, “What is it?”

Seungwan hesitated. It took her three seconds long to finally look at Sana in the eye and answered, “She was pregnant.”

Sana stilled. Her arms were slowly uncrossed and her shoulders sagged, “Pregnant?”

A firm nod, “Yes. It isn’t just her, Minatozaki. There are two victims.”

It was hard to maintain a poker face when she was very, very taken aback, “How old?”

“Around fifteen to sixteen weeks old. Still at the early stage. She probably just found out not long ago too.”

Sana took a deep breath and exhaled it loudly, stared down to the floor, lips pursed, “Do you think it’s the main motive? Or the sole motive?”

“It’s a huge clue, at least. Seeing how the abdomen got stabbed a lot of times, I’d say yes, it has something to do with her being pregnant.”

“It’s someone she’s really close with.” Sana mumbled, “I’ve had the assumption for a while and… and this just confirms it all.”

“You knew about it?”

“From the crime scene scan.” Sana lifted her head, and Seungwan had lost her smile she had just minutes ago, “It’s almost a fact by now.”

Seungwan’s eyes mirrored her tired ones, “I’m sure you can find them.”

The detective hoped so too, “Can we check the DNA? Is it possible?”

“Yes, yeah actually we can do it,” Seungwan nodded furiously, like she hadn’t thought of it before, “we can take the tissue from the fetus and run a DNA test from it.”

“Then let’s do it. Later when I already have a suspect or two with more evidences about this, it will be very useful.”

“Sure, sure, we’ll do it, but it needs time. I’ll tell you when it’s ready later on.”

The detective only nodded her head, didn’t know what to do, or say, or how she felt. Murder cases were very depressing, Sana knew that. She once had a case with way, way worse situation but it didn’t make anything better. No matter how many times she had faced it, she would still never comprehend how, a human being with a heart and soul, was capable of doing such act and had the guts to run away.

Sana didn’t have the heart to look at the body anymore. Seungwan understood that and urged her to go home, because it was so late and Sana wasn’t in her best condition to let the last information sink in. The drive home was too quiet and Sana was distracted the whole time. Just when she got home and saw Mina working on something on the dining table, that the tiredness finally got over her and she wanted nothing but just sleep.

Mina offered her to take her bed instead, since it had a lot of plushy and plushy helped Mina to sleep well, according to the girl. Sana took the offer and slept on the younger’s bed. And mornings never came by so quick when she finally was able to close her eyes.

****


	3. three

_Thursday, September 5 th, 2019_

The atmosphere in Room D was gloomy. There was never a cheerful atmosphere present in the whole office, indeed, but that day was exceptionally dark. Maybe because the rain wouldn’t stop pouring and Sana’s team members were kind of too exhausted. Jinyoung no longer hid how tired he was as he passed out with his head on the round table.

Sana walked to the whiteboard. The pressure got heavier each day.

“Did she lie?”

It wasn’t exactly a question. Even if it were, Dahyun knew Sana couldn’t answer it.

“Why would she do that,”

Maybe she was too confident, Sana thought, that things suddenly got harder than before. She couldn’t seem to find any clue to get closer to the culprit. She knew she couldn’t expect everything to be solved when she finally got the consent from the five friends for an interrogation each. She knew there might be some contrasting statements from each of them but she didn’t expect it would be _that_ crucial.

All of them said they weren’t present in the dorm when the murder happened. Sana believed them because all five said the same, at least for the moment she did. But one of them had _one_ different statement from the other four, and that was where Sana started to get really confused.

There was no point of lying in front of detectives, unless a favor was gained through it. As a witness who was also a potential suspect, Sana didn’t quite understand why Kim Yerim was so persistent with her statement. The young girl was still emotionally unstable, Sana understood that, but everything still didn’t make sense.

Though confused, Sana still let Kim Yerim to say what she had in mind. She didn’t stop her by telling that what she said contradicted the other witnesses. Sana knew Kim Yerim wasn’t stupid. There must be a reason why she decided to bravely state differently from her friends. She was just not ready to tell Sana about it.

_It wasn’t a taxi!_

“Was she perhaps drunk?” Dahyun mumbled again, voice almost buried by the ongoing heavy rain outside, “All of them said they went to a party that night.”

“While they are indeed legal, it was a party hosted by some kind of student organization, located in the campus, so I don’t think so.” Sana answered, as she wrote her assumption on the whiteboard, “Four of them said they saw a taxi. Only Kim Yerim stated it wasn’t a taxi. They saw the same car, the four seemed unfamiliar with it, but Kim Yerim was so sure she even shouted at my face that it wasn’t a taxi.”

“But she didn’t tell you why she said that, Sunbae.”

Sana turned around, taking a seat on the round table across the youngest in the room, “Yeah, I know it’s weird. I know you’re suspecting her. But I don’t think it’s the time yet. She’s nineteen. She saw her friend lying dead in a pool of blood with her own eyes. It hasn’t been long since that happened so, she needs time. Remember that not everyone is like us.”

Dahyun looked down, “Yes, Sunbae. I’m sorry I assumed too soon.”

“It’s fine. Take some rest.”

“I’m okay, I had a long nap before the interrogation,” The youngest smiled a bit before looking down to her notes again, “what should we do next, Sunbae?”

“Let’s just-- can we get another whiteboard or something, this one’s already full--”

Dahyun stood up instantly, “I’ll get the boys for that, Sunbae. Wait a second.”

It only took fifteen minutes for a new whiteboard to be placed in the room. After telling the officer boys to buy them dinner, Sana started writing the timetable of the murder, according to the five friends.

_Thursday, August 29 th 2019; 7PM_

“All of them said they left the dorm at around seven,” Sana wrote it down, with Dahyun beside her, “with the car owned by one of them, who was it again?”

“Uh,” Dahyun took a look at her notes, “Lee Jaerim, Sunbae.”

“Yeah, that one. They left for a party hosted by a student organization. It was some kind of a celebration, I don’t know, they said something about welcoming party or stuff, for freshmen and since most students living in the dorm are freshmen; it was quite empty that night. Almost everyone left. They said they didn’t know anyone else who didn’t leave for the party beside Son Chaeyoung.”

“The victim did tell them that she was feeling unwell.”

“Yes. She did.”

“That means she at least regularly communicated with them.”

“In my opinion, she was decently close with them. The five of them are certainly close since they went to the party together in the same car. Unless they’re lying and they actually left Son Chaeyoung out; I’d say the six of them were close.”

Dahyun nodded, writing it down on her notes.

_Friday, August 30 th 2019; 3:15AM_

“They went back to the dorm at around three, I added a quarter since they said it took fifteen minutes from the campus to the dorm by car, and vice versa, so a quarter past three in the morning is the time they reached the dorm.” Sana continued, “And as they entered, they saw a car exiting the dorm. This is where Kim Yerim’s statement is different. Four of them said it was a taxi. Kim Yerim said it wasn’t.”

Dahyun realized something suddenly, “But how did she know her friends thought it was a taxi? I mean, a while back, in the interrogation, you didn’t say anything about a taxi, Sunbae. You just asked her about the car and she straight up said it wasn’t a taxi.”

A slight frown, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you didn’t say anything about a taxi, she went straight saying it wasn’t a taxi without _you_ asking if it was a taxi. Don’t you think it’s weird?”

Sana went mum for a while before it clicked, “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I didn’t say anything about it being a taxi. I just asked what she saw. Yeah, right, it’s weird,”

“Should I find out who she is, Sunbae? Kim Yerim, I mean.”

“I think you should. It may help us.” Sana agreed, “But we can’t accuse her too fast. She has a strong alibi. She was at the party with the others. We need to the check, but I’m pretty sure it’s something they wouldn’t make up.”

“Yes, Sunbae.”

“Okay,” Sana went back to the whiteboard, “so, when they reached the dorm, they heard a really loud music coming from Son Chaeyoung’s room; which was why they decided to check because it wasn’t like her. It was so early in the morning and she was blasting some loud music. And that what made them find the body. Fifteen minutes later, or half past three, we got a call from them, from Kim Yerim, to be exact. And that’s the end of their story.”

Sana ended it by writing _Friday, August 30 th 2019; 3:30AM_

“We found both Seo Eunyoung and Kim Yerim’s fingerprints on the CD player, Sunbae. But I think it’s just them sharing the stuff since both friends said they had some sleepovers in Son Chaeyoung’s room.”

“They’re friends, it makes sense if we find their fingerprints on many things in that room. They all have strong alibi too, it’s unlikely they did it. Seungwan said the victim died three to four hours prior to being found, so, she had died even before midnight.”

“Up until now the said organization, that held the party, hasn’t uploaded the pictures from the occasion. They said it’s because of the on-going case, but I may need to request it myself, to prove the friends’ alibi. Can I do that, Sunbae?”

To be honest, Dahyun was nothing but impressive since day one but Sana somehow still refused to verbally acknowledge her junior’s smart head and just said, “Yeah, sure, great idea. Also you may want to ask the representatives of the organization if they really saw those five during the party or not, just to make sure.”

“Will do, Sunbae.”

“So, um,” Sana awkwardly avoided looking at the younger, for some reason, “the culprit must’ve known about the party since they uh, chose the right time to, um, did the murder.”

“It’s someone Son Chaeyoung was close with, right?”

“Right. Our first assumption still stands. Oh and one more important thing; the friends didn’t know that she was pregnant. None of them said anything about that when I asked if they knew why Son Chaeyoung was feeling unwell that night. She didn’t tell them about it.”

Dahyun wrote it down, “They didn’t seem to know much about her private life, Sunbae.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Sana put the marker back on its place, “That is all for today. It’s late, Jinyoung’s hopeless, and both of us are dead tired, so let’s wrap it up.”

“Alright. Thank you for today, Sunbae.”

“No problem. Great job today. Also, um, you’re going home tonight, right?”

Dahyun smiled, she knew Sana no longer let her team members to stay overnight at the office unless there was something really urgent, “I am, Sunbae. Don’t worry.”

“Do you, um,” Sana hesitated, _want me to drive you home?_ , “want me to--”

“Sunbaenim!”

Sana almost jumped when there was a loud knock followed with the boys entering. She was about to scold them but seeing Dahyun cheering because of the massive food the boys brought them and Jinyoung confused in his half-awake state, she just laughed along and decided to brush it off.

What was she thinking, anyway?

-

“I think I suck.”

“At what,”

Sana took a peek at the young girl on the passenger seat who couldn’t seem to spare a time away from her phone. A slight sigh she let out as her foot stepped on the brake, with some rows of cars ahead of theirs didn’t seem to move even a bit. The rain was heavy and the traffic jam didn’t help. Sana wanted to eat the street food they had bought but it was already a mutual agreement not to eat anything in the car.

“At finding the culprit.”

It earned Mina’s attention as she put her game in a halt and looked at Sana with raised eyebrows, “Really?”

The detective looked back at her, “What do you mean really?”

“Why do you still think I will judge you if you tell me the truth?”

“What truth,”

“That it has nothing to do with your job.” Mina went back to her game, “Also it’s only been like what, a week?”

“I was confident at first, okay,”

“When are you not confident?”

“Most times.”

“You barely have a job these past months.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with my confidence.”

“It’s about Detective Kim isn’t it,”

Sana looked at her, in disbelief, “I never said--”

“She’s your team member. I know that. And I know you want to do something about that but you can’t.”

“Wait, wait, since when is this about her--”

“Since when is this _not_ about her.” Mina paused her game again, “Come on, you can tell me. I won’t judge. I tell you things too.”

“Look, I’m just worried about my case, okay, this has nothing to do with--”

“Or you can tell Miss Kang.” Mina said again, grinning, “She’s great, you know that. You should try talking to her. I like her a lot.”

“Yeah, I can see that you like her.”

“Detective Kim is nice.” Mina looked to the front, exiting her game instead of continuing it, “She’s smart and funny too. I can also see why you like her.”

Sana kept mum.

“I know you think you made a mistake by choosing her. You’re afraid you’ll lose focus because of her. That’s why you prefer avoiding her until she thinks you hate her. I would feel the same if I were her, just saying. She likes you, doesn’t she? Or, she used to, who knows if she’s moved on. But you just… all of a sudden act like she doesn’t exist. That must be hurt.”

Mina wasn’t wrong. Sana admitted them all. She couldn’t lie in front of Mina and the girl used the opportunity to always push her to do things she avoided. But Sana always brushed it off and acted like she would get over it sooner or later.

She never did.

“You won’t like it if she’s with someone else. I won’t buy it if you say you’ll be just fine if it happens.”

“I never thought about--”

“You two being together, I know. You just _kind of_ like her and that’s it, I know. I don’t buy it still.”

“You never believe the things I say.”

“Yeah because you lie all the time about that.” Mina looked at her again, and Sana just looked down, “I don’t know what it will take to finally make you change your mind, or even if it will change or not eventually, I’m just saying that you do suck with things like this and Detective Kim doesn’t deserve it.”

Sana scoffed, “Yeah, that was a hard slap, thanks.”

“Tell Miss Kang about it.” Mina said again, smiling a bit seeing her phone screen, “She’ll slap you too buy way softer.”

It all came down to the circumstances. Sana would always blame the circumstances every time Mina brought _Detective Kim_ up and honestly, Sana wasn’t wrong about that. If they were under different circumstances, Sana was almost sure she wouldn’t hesitate even a bit. But then again all of the people around her, be it Mina or Yoo Jungyeon, had repeatedly said they didn’t mind, and in the end it became Sana’s fault again.

She wanted to finish the case quickly because she didn’t want to work any longer with Dahyun. It only made her confused and felt incredibly guilty. They hadn’t spoken to each other for months before the case. Sana really wanted to try giving the impression that she didn’t actually hate the younger detective, but it would be a waste because Sana could already see herself ignoring Dahyun after they finished the case.

“Detective Minatozaki has something to say!”

Sana pursed her lips when Mina said that to Miss Kang when they arrived. Miss Kang, pulling away softly after being attacked in a bear hug by the girl, looked at the detective with her usual smile.

“Oh, really? Coincidence! I also have something to say to you, Detective.”

“You do?” Sana asked, a bit surprised.

“Yes, um, are you in a rush?”

“No, no, we can talk a bit if you want.”

“Sure,” Miss Kang turned to Mina, “wait a bit, okay? I’ll talk to Detective for a short while.”

Miss Kang’s room wasn’t as spacious as the one that was used for the regular sessions and it was only Sana’s third time entering it. First one was when she registered Mina for the first time and second one was when she had an intense talk with the psychologist because of Mina’s constant refusal to attend the session. Sana sat down across Miss Kang, the name plate with _Kang Seulgi – Psychologist_ written on it placed right in front of her on the table.

“You must be really busy nowadays, Detective. I heard about the case.”

“Oh, that,” Sana laughed awkwardly, “yeah, I guess. I haven’t been this busy for months. It’s going to take a lot of time, maybe.”

Miss Kang smiled, as she always did, “It seems to be huge. I saw it a lot on TV.”

A nod, “Yeah, pretty much. A lot of people watching, waiting, I don’t know how to feel.”

“I’m sure you can finish it.” Miss Kang said, before turning a bit serious, “What I want to talk to you is related to the case, Detective.”

Sana was surprised, again, “Pardon?”

“It’s about the victim.”

A frown was present, “What about her?”

“My friend, my college friend, to be exact,” Miss Kang opened a drawer and pulled out a huge envelope to give it to Sana, “contacted me a few days ago. She’s also a psychologist.”

Sana opened the envelope and pulled some papers.

“Miss Son Chaeyoung was one of patients.”

It took Sana almost a minute to respond as she scanned through the papers one by one, “She was troubled?”

“She didn’t tell me anything about it because she wanted you to know directly from her, so,” Miss Kang crossed her arms, “It’s the same person, right?”

“Yes, yes, it’s her.” Sana nodded, after making sure, as she read the psychologist’s name, “Your friend is--”

“Sooyoung. Park Sooyoung. Her office is in Seodaemun.”

Seodaemun. Sana stopped reading and realized. The Son family’s house was in Seodaemun too.

“It’s all she gave me. Information about a patient is confidential so, I suggest you to meet Miss Park directly. I don’t know if it will help but--”

“It will. It certainly will.” Sana’s smile matched Miss Kang’s, “Thank you so much, Miss Kang. I didn’t expect this at all.”

“It’s nothing, Detective. I’m glad I can help.”

They exchanged smiles before Sana read the papers once more. It was indeed Son Chaeyoung. The picture attached didn’t look so familiar, however, probably because it was taken a little long ago. The address written was also the Son family’s house in Seodaemun. By the time Son Chaeyoung started attending the sessions with her psychologist, she hadn’t moved out of her house to the dorm. She was most likely still in high school.

“Detective?” Miss Kang called her and Sana looked up.

“Yes?”

“Since I’ve told you mine, you may tell me what you want to talk about.”

“Ah, that,” Sana looked down with a small laugh, “it’s nothing. Mina was just joking. I probably should leave. There’s so much that I can do with this information.”

“Sure, sure, Detective. Thank you for your time today.”

Something kept bothering her inside her head as Sana went back to the car after the talk. It was as if she had missed something important with the information she had just received. She ignored it and instead immediately looked for the office in Seodaemun using her phone, but before she could go, Jinyoung called her.

“What is it?”

_“Sunbae, the Son family’s lawyer just came to the office again and brought some… people. You may want to go back quickly. They’re important.”_

-

Sana wasn’t impressed.

She never was since the people whom the lawyer brought with him introduced themselves.

“They hired a what now?”

Jinyoung and Dahyun just smiled knowingly across the sulky team leader. The guests had left a few minutes ago and they were all back in the Room D. The constant tapping of Sana’s fingernails to the table kept the room noisy.

The name was Bae Joohyun; a private investigator. She was accompanied by Kim Joonmyun; her assistant. The Son family decided to hire a private investigator. The case was _already_ being handled by Detective Minatozaki Sana and they _still_ somehow managed to hire some unknown private investigator.

Sana wasn’t going to lie; it hurt her pride. It wasn’t the first time, of course, there were instances where the victim’s families hired private investigators, but all of those experiences were unpleasant. Sana didn’t like them. Private detectives were clumsy, indecisive, know-it-all, and when they messed up, Sana was the one responsible because the public only knew her, not those private detectives. She was held responsible many times for things she didn’t even do.

“It’s understandable, Sunbae.” Jinyoung said, “They’re rich.”

“Yeah but,” Sana sighed, “we don’t need them. They’re not needed. The family can just ask me to add more team members instead, like, come on.”

“They said they would work together with us, though, Sunbae. Not all private investigators are willing to do that.”

“Bet my ass it’s because the family asked them to. They will still do whatever they want, anyway.”

The two team members laughed, earning a glare from Sana but it didn’t last long.

“Let’s just give them information if they ask. If they don’t, just let them. Unless they give us anything in return, though I doubt it.”

Chief didn’t like private investigators. It went down to his kids including Sana, Jackson, Momo and Yoo Jungyeon. It only needed a little time before all of them found out about this Bae Joohyun and Kim Joonmyun. It would be the talk of the office for some good long days. Sana couldn’t wait to be laughed at.

“Moving on,” Sana pulled a chair beside her closer, grabbing the envelope placed there, “I found something.”

It was still bugging her. Something, Sana didn’t know what it is, at the back of her head. She had her hand on her forehead while Jinyoung and Dahyun read the papers from the envelope. She was forgetting something. It might be something she needed to remember quickly. It might be something related to the latest information she had just given.

“Psychologist Park Sooyoung.” Jinyoung mumbled, writing the name down, “Seodaemun, Seoul…”

“It’s Kang Seulgi’s friend. You know Kang Seulgi, right? Mina’s most favorite person on earth.”

“Kang Seulgi as in Miss Kang, Sunbae?” Dahyun asked and Sana only nodded.

“I just got that right before Jinyoung called, so I haven’t done anything about it. It’d be nice if we can go there as soon as possible.”

“We can go today, Sunbae. We still have time.”

Sana smiled a bit seeing Dahyun being eager, “Yeah, sure, but after lunch. I don’t want any of you to skip lunch.”

“Won’t do, Sunbae.”

“It says here,” Jinyoung mumbled again, “that she started on January last year. It hasn’t been long since she started attending the sessions, Sunbae.”

“I noticed that too. Kang Seulgi told me that information about a patient is confidential so, there’s nothing much there, we need to meet the psychologist.”

Jinyoung looked up to Sana, “We’ll do it today, right?”

Sana smiled again, “Yeah, we will. Though I like the spirit, I still won’t let you two skip your lunch. We also need to--”

She stopped suddenly. Something clicked.

“Wait, I remember,” Sana grasped her phone immediately, went to the gallery where she kept the pictures of the stuffs they took from the crime scene, “I remember now, I’ve seen the name before,”

There it was. The file holder. Sana showed it to her curious juniors. _Park SY._

“I knew since on the way here something was missing, I mean, I was missing something important.” Sana looked at the picture again, “We found this file holder in the crime scene. One was Chou TZ and the other was Park SY. Her psychologist’s name is Park Sooyoung. Could it be her?”

Jinyoung and Dahyun were a bit taken aback as well.

“It does fit, Sunbae. But… why the two of them, I mean, one’s her idol, the other one’s her psychologist… it kind of doesn’t match.”

“Maybe she just likes them both, that’s why.” Dahyun argued, and Sana always found it amusing seeing the two of them arguing, “And the file holders must mean something too. She kept something there for Chou Tzuyu and Park Sooyoung.”

“Is that your assumption?” Sana asked, the left corner of her lips slightly lifted.

Dahyun turned to her, somehow hesitant, “Yes, Sunbae. I think so…”

A firm nod, “Okay. Eat your lunch. And then we’ll go.”

-

“Park Sooyoung… Park Sooyoung… oh there it is!”

It was pretty much difficult to find the office. Similar to Miss Kang’s, the place was small and homey, in the middle of the busy city of Seoul. Sana didn’t know where the Son family’s Seodaemun house exactly was, but seeing how much of a hassle it was to find Park Sooyoung’s office, she thought it wasn’t easily accessible from the house either.

“I have called the number written in the website to make an appointment,” Dahyun said from the backseat, “said it’s from you, Sunbae, and they said yes immediately. Miss Park isn’t very busy today so we don’t need to wait long.”

“Okay, that’s great.”

Jinyoung suddenly asked, after parking the car, “How did she know you, Sunbae, anyway? I mean, how did she know how to reach you?”

“Her friend is Kang Seulgi, Mina’s psychologist. I don’t know about me, but Mina’s pretty much famous in the whole city, so, yeah,” Sana unbuckled her seatbelt, “let’s go.”

The assistant didn’t lie because she recognized Sana right away and told the three of them to enter Park Sooyoung’s room, said the psychologist would come in a moment. There wasn’t any patient seen that time. Sana glanced around the room, found almost everything in green, including the window, and that kind of sparked memories she didn’t want to remember.

“Good afternoon, Detectives.”

They all stood up when Park Sooyoung came and bowed to each other before sitting back down. She was very similar to Miss Kang. Maybe it was just how psychologists behaved, Sana thought.

“I’m Minatozaki Sana. These are Park Jinyoung and Kim Dahyun. We’re here to collect some information about the homicide victim; Son Chaeyoung.”

Park Sooyoung nodded, “I’m Park Sooyoung. And I want to apologize first for not contacting you directly, instead I asked my friend Seulgi to do it. I didn’t know how to do it then I remember one of Seulgi’s patients is Myoui Mina, so,”

“Yes, yes.” Sana nodded back, smiling awkwardly, “no problem, Miss Park.”

“So, let’s get to the point, shall we,”

Park Sooyoung took something from under the table between them, a huge file folder with papers inside, and pushing it to Sana. The detectives examined them instantly.

“Son Chaeyoung was one of my patients. She started attending the sessions in January last year. She suffered from insomnia, panic attacks and had potential depression.”

Sana raised her eyebrows, “Potential?”

“There were symptoms.” Park Sooyoung gestured at the papers, “All written on the papers.”

“Okay, um,” Sana put the papers aside, “can you tell me how she ended up being your patient first?”

“Yes, so,” The psychologist fixed her posture slightly, “in January, middle of the month, she made a brief phone call asking if she could have an appointment with me. She didn’t say much, just her name, age and address, in Seodaemun. It also didn’t last long. The moment she got approved, she hung up immediately.”

“So it was her who called? Not anyone else?”

“Yes, Detective.”

Sana nodded, so the psychologist continued.

“A week later she indeed came. Very late, as I remember, but she did came. Just like any other patient, she didn’t seem to look fine. She struggled in just introducing herself. The session lasted for a little less than thirty minutes and we spent it all just for introducing ourselves.”

“What was she like? Physically, I mean.”

“Physically, she was fine. She was really pretty. She always looked healthy. People could tell that she was well-off because of her appearance. I’d say that she somehow had this cold demeanor. But yeah, the moment she stepped into the room for her session, it all faded away, and she was no more than a little girl.”

Sana paused, picturing the girl in her head, at how similar she was to Mina back then.

“I asked her why she decided to come to me. I know she was troubled, but not everyone who’s troubled has the courage to seek for help. It needs strong motivation. She said that it was an impulsive act. That she actually wasn’t ready and didn’t know what to say or tell me. She didn’t know what she was doing, she said. So I kept telling her that nothing was wrong. I wanted to make sure that she knew she was doing the right thing.”

“Did she tell you anything?”

“Well, since she had told me, indirectly at least, that it was an impulsive act and she didn’t know what to say, I don’t feel like she had told me much about her life. She mostly told me about what she felt. What she experienced. Like how she couldn’t sleep at nights. How she had those panic attacks randomly. She didn’t tell me why. She just told me what she felt.”

“Okay…” Sana exhaled a heavy breath, “was there someone, or, I don’t know, her family is rich, was she accompanied by someone?”

The answer was stern, “No, never.”

“Never?”

“Yes, never, Detective. She was always alone. That’s why it’s still bothering me until now. I know her family background. Everyone in here knows, including my other patients who shared the same days of sessions with her. But we never saw her with someone else, be it her family or friend. She was always alone since the first day.”

Sana scoffed hearing that. She could already guess it, but confirming it herself had her annoyed as hell. Stupid, ignorant rich family who didn’t know how to cherish their children and cried their eyes out when something happened.

Dahyun then asked, “But did she say anything about her family or friends to you, Miss?”

“Since she was very hesitant, and I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, so I never pushed. I did ask some things like, her siblings, her school, her friends that she liked, but just that. Never more. She…” Park Sooyoung paused for a bit, “she wasn’t the best in speech. She preferred writing.”

“Writing?”

“As the time passed, she attended less and less sessions, but she asked me a favor.” There was a small bitter smile, “To let her send letters to me when she didn’t want to go.”

“Letters? She sent you letters?”

“Occasionally. They’re also inside the file folder.”

Jinyoung quickly checked it and there were indeed many small envelopes inside.

“What are the letters for?”

“To make up for the sessions she skipped.”

“Why is that?”

“She never told me, Detective. She just said she preferred writing to speaking. She told me many things in her letters than in the sessions.”

“Like what?”

“Like how her days went, how school was, how exams were, how she got accepted in the major she wanted, nothing crucial. Just basic daily things. She said she liked having someone she could talk to. And I was glad seeing her opening up. You can read them all if you want, Detective.”

“So you two like exchanged letters to each other?”

“Oh, no, no, it’s one-sided.” The bitter smile was still present, “She didn’t let me send letters back to her. She didn’t tell me why, as usual.”

_It was because her family didn’t know and she didn’t want them to know._

Sana wrote that assumption in her palm.

“Okay, so, there’s nothing crucial you know about her aside from the symptoms she suffered.” Sana concluded and the psychologist nodded, “About the friends, though, did she tell you anything about a boyfriend or someone she liked?”

Park Sooyoung went mum for a while, and the three detectives waited anxiously before, “No, never.”

“Never? Not even once?”

“Yes, Detective. Never.”

There was a collective of sigh held that time.

“I feel like she started attending the sessions, and continuing it with letters, was because she needed someone she could talk to. Someone who would listen to her, even though all she talked about was something that we may see not important. She had mental health problems, indeed, but she wasn’t aware of that. It wasn’t the reason why she needed me. It was purely because she wanted someone who cared for her.”

“Does that mean no one actually did care for her, Miss Park?”

The nod was firm, “Yes. It happens to a lot of my patients, Detective. The environment they live in doesn’t provide the support they need. Be it the family or the friends. It could be the same for Son Chaeyoung.”

Sana almost rolled her eyes. Stupid, stupid rich family.

“Okay, I understand.” Sana spun the pen with her fingers, “When did the last time you saw her, Miss Park?”

“Three months ago she came for a short session. That was the last time. The letters were very regular though, once or twice a week she would send me, so it was a bit weird that the last time she sent me a letter was almost a month ago.”

“So she stopped sending you letters suddenly?”

“Yes. I don’t know why. I tried to contact her but I guess she changed her number. It was like she didn’t want to talk to me anymore.”

Sana nodded as she wrote on her palm again and subtly showed it to Dahyun next to her.

_Something must’ve happened a month ago._

“I think that is all that I can tell you, Detective. The file folder I gave you has everything so you can check it again later. I know I’m not much of a help but… I hope it can give you some clue about her.”

Sana smiled, “It really helps us, Miss Park. We realize that maybe until now we still don’t know the victim at all.”

“I saw the news and took a pretty long time to… believe it.” The short laugh sounded sad, “She seemed like a very good girl. She was smart and polite, despite coming from a rich family, and very independent, if I may say. Going here and there alone.”

Sana was about to respond, but she felt Dahyun nudging her with the notes so she took a peek first.

_If the file holder is meant to keep letters, did the victim occasionally send letters to Chou Tzuyu as well? Park SY and Chou TZ._

Her junior was very smart, indeed. Sana gave her a small nod.

“We appreciate your help, Miss Park. We really do.” Sana said while gesturing Jinyoung to bring the file folder with him, “We also would like to ask if you’re willing to be contacted again if we need help.”

“Sure, Detective. Feel free to ask me anything. I will help if I can.”

It had started to rain again when the three detectives went back to the office. Sana didn’t forget to thank Miss Kang again by text. Psychologists were so kind. It was their job but most likely it was already meant for genuinely kind people like them.

Dahyun was quick to make a phone call to one of Chou Tzuyu’s managers, and unlucky her, it was the loud one. Sana and Jinyoung in the front seats could hear his voice even though it was raining and the call wasn’t put on loud speaker.

_“We receive many letters every day! You know she’s very famous! We can’t possibly check them one by one! Besides they all sound the same!”_

Dahyun sighed, covering the phone with her palm and asked Sana, “What do we do, Sunbae?”

Sana looked at the window and was reminded of Mina. Everything Son Chaeyoung experienced somehow resembled what Mina went through a few years back. She knew she couldn’t be sure since she basically only knew so much about the victim but one thing for sure, Mina was lucky and Son Chaeyoung was not. Still, the chance to bring justice was still present and Sana didn’t want to waste it.

So she turned to the backseat and firmly said,

“Tell them to do it. Find the letters from Son Chaeyoung.”

****


	4. four

It was finally Wednesday. A good day for Sana to go.

“Among the five, she’s the least friendly.” Dahyun murmured, Sana knew her junior wasn’t very fond of the idea, “Do you think it will work, Sunbae?”

Sana shrugged, “I prefer regret going to regret not going.”

The next day would mark a week since Sana asked Chou Tzuyu and her manager to find letters from Son Chaeyoung. It resulted in precisely nothing. The manager was very grumpy and Sana was about to tell them to stop, since well, the idol was too famous to the point she could receive hundreds of letters every damn day to make up for the gifts the fans couldn’t give because it was forbidden, but Chou Tzuyu was determined. Saying she cut down most of her schedules, she insisted to find the letters until she got at least one.

Earlier in the morning, Jinyoung told her that Chou Tzuyu announced she wouldn’t be accepting letters from the fans until further notice, without any specific reason given to public. The social media and news portals were soon filled with worries. Sana felt it as well. The young girl was really trying and she kind of felt bad about it.

“I think the faculty is somewhere over there,”

Sana glanced at the maps on the screen with a frown, “If we get lost it’s totally on you.”

Some time ago the three had checked the five friends’ schedules. The interrogation wasn’t enough. They knew the friends were not in their best state either. Sana had the idea of visiting them on their most lax days to talk casually, without the scary atmosphere and police officers’ eyes watching. Their first target was Kim Yerim, not coincidentally of course, Sana purposely wanted it to be her, which Jinyoung and Dahyun doubted it could work.

When they felt like they have found the correct building, Sana parked the car and ignored the strange stares students around gave them. Probably only lecturers were allowed to park there but Sana didn't care. She exited the car and took a look of the huge white building then wondered how she would find Kim Yerim among tons of students.

"They look like they recognize you, Sunbae."

Sana didn't doubt it as she returned the stares with her unfriendly gaze, "Easier for Kim Yerim to spot us then."

According to Kim Yerim's schedule that day, Sana and Dahyun were twenty minutes too early. They took their time walking around before entering the building through the front entrance. Sana decided they should wait there, because looking at the map provided near the stairs, the classroom Kim Yerim was currently in wasn't far from where they were. Unless if she didn't come to class, but Sana just hoped for the best.

And they were lucky that day.

Kim Yerim stopped going down the stairs when she saw Sana and Dahyun. She looked way better than before, Sana noticed. She was no longer pale and was better dressed. But the stare the young girl gave her made Sana know it wouldn't be easy to talk to her _again_.

When Kim Yerim continued walking, Sana went up to her by instinct, only to be ignored as the girl suddenly turned to the other way. Sana could only sigh.

"Miss Kim," She called, a little loudly, and it did in making the girl stop walking, "can we talk?"

Kim Yerim didn't respond, but she didn't move away either.

"It won't take long."

The girl looked back at her, finally, "What more do you want to know?"

Sana's hands intertwined behind her back as she walked closer to Kim Yerim, "Anything that can make me figure out who killed your friend."

"I told you I have no idea."

"I didn't say you--"

"And she wasn't my friend."

It took Sana by surprise, for a fleeting moment, "Pardon?"

"She wasn't my friend. You're wrong." Kim Yerim scoffed, "Now please leave me alone."

Sana followed her, calmly, so that they still talked while walking, "Was there any bad blood or something?"

"It's none of your business."

"Well, indeed, but you know why I'm doing this, so,"

An annoyed sigh, "We just didn't get along, that's all."

"Mm-hmm," Sana nodded, trying her best not to make the girl tense, "so you didn't hang much with her?"

"No. She was always in her room."

"You two weren't close at all? Since day one?"

Kim Yerim nodded, but it looked like she was hesitating.

"Or is it because something that happened recently?"

The girl stopped walking, so did Sana and Dahyun, and looked up angrily at the detective, "You already know everything about me so why bother coming to me?"

"First, no, I don't know everything about you, because there's only so much I can know from some secondary sources. And second, of course I need to hear it from you myself to confirm it. Even then, I still need to keep my skepticism because you are a human, and humans, lie."

Another scoff, "So what's the point?"

"Your major is different from hers, that I can understand why you said you two weren't close. But both of you were in a same club." Sana didn't want to waste time and patience, "The baseball club, am I right?"

The eyes that was on hers then looked down.

"Out of the five friends on the third floor, only you had something in common with the victim. The others didn't share the same major or club or anything else. Is it true, Miss Kim?"

Sana wasn't suspecting Kim Yerim to be super close with Son Chaeyoung, but she also didn't expect Kim Yerim to strongly state they were not friends at all. It wasn't her fault that she became even more curious because of that. She was only wondering about the baseball club at first. But things had become way more interesting suddenly.

The detectives were met with silence. Sana's thin patience were running out.

"Look," She started again, "I know it's been overwhelming for you getting involved in such heavy crime. I also know that it's very... unsettling, in having two police officers following you around. But listen, no one's blaming you. I didn't come here because I accused you of the crime. I just wanted some information in order to find who the culprit really is. It's my job and I need your help."

"But I don't know anything."

"Did you truly hear what I asked?" Sana frowned, "I didn't ask who killed her. I asked about you being in the same club as the victim. And I asked what happened until you said she wasn't your friend."

The girl took a deep breath and gripped the stripe of her tote bag tightly, "Batter."

"Pardon?"

"I... I was a batter. She was a pitcher."

Sana crossed her arms, humming, "Was?"

"I mean, I," Kim Yerim was still hesitating, "I still am a batter. But she... I mean, before she... before all this,"

"Slow down," Sana tried to calm her down, "it's okay. Tell me slowly."

"We used to go together. For practices. And all that. Last month-- no, two months ago, I bought a baseball bat from my own savings. She lost it."

The frown appeared once more, "The baseball bat?"

"Yes. I left it in her room. I did that a lot before, leaving the bat in her room, for some reasons. One time she didn't return it. She said she lost it. I asked her many times but she wouldn't give me a clear answer. It was ridiculous," A bitter chuckle was heard, "I was the one who spent my savings for it, but it looked like she was the one who had the emotional breakdown. I mean, it wasn't super expensive or anything but she looked genuinely shaken."

"When did that happen?"

"Early August."

"And then what happened after that?"

"I was angry at first, of course, who wouldn't, but because she looked genuinely sad, I felt bad. But there was nothing I could do. She kept locking herself in her room all day. She avoided me and the others. She stopped coming to the practices too."

Sana nodded her head, trying to let the information sink in.

"That's all that happened. Nothing much, right?"

She gave the girl a smile, "For us, even the smallest information means a lot. Thank you so much, Miss Kim."

Kim Yerim looked down again, seemingly wasn't expecting to be thanked so politely, "I need to go."

"Sure. Do you want us to--"

"Have a nice day, Detective."

Sana hadn't even finished her sentence when Kim Yerim dashed off away from them in an instant. The two detectives only looked at the girl until she was no longer in their sight.

"That's it?" Dahyun raised her eyebrows, "They stopped being friends because of a baseball bat?"

A shrug, "Teenagers."

-

"There has got to be something behind that baseball bat."

Sana was amused seeing how determined Jinyoung was, "How so?"

When they spent the rest of the day in the Room D like the days before, Sana started to realize that things had already been dragged for a little too long. She used to have the confidence to finish quick, but she wasn't sure anymore. The clues were there, but the thing was, they didn't have potential suspects, so the clues were basically useless.

And now they had to find some hidden meaning behind a goddamn baseball bat.

"It's a usual fight that breaks between kids, you know," Jinyoung explained, "when one lost the other one's stuffs, and all, but did that really make them stop being friends? Especially they're pretty much near adult age. It doesn't make sense."

"I do agree that some things didn't add up." Sana joined, "Kim Yerim said the baseball bat wasn't expensive, and really, it's true. They're not expensive at all. So what was so difficult in buying another one for her after Son Chaeyoung lost it? Unlike Kim Yerim, whose family background was nowhere as fancy as her, she was mad loaded."

"Also, how did she lose a _baseball bat_?" Dahyun then added, clearly was bothered with how weird the story was, "She misplaced it? Or what?"

Sana smiled seeing her juniors worked, "So in conclusion, we all find this whole baseball bat thingy strange."

Jinyoung nodded, adding a question mark beside the _baseball bat_ written on the whiteboard.

"Did she lie again," Sana heard Dahyun mumble.

"Yeah, I started to think that she may be lying, Sunbae." Jinyoung agreed, sitting back down joining Sana and Dahyun around the circle table.

"First taxi, now baseball bat,"

"Do you believe her, Sunbae?"

Sana shook her head, "No. Of course not. I don't believe in anything unless I can prove it myself. But, there's nothing wrong with listening and considering. Some things that happened in murder cases don't always make sense. Keep that in mind."

Both her juniors nodded with somber faces.

"Go take some break, you two. It's past lunch time. We'll meet again in two hours. Or three, I want some nap. Now go."

Sana stayed in her seat after Jinyoung and Dahyun left the room. She put both feet on the table, crossed her arms, and threw her head back for a short nap. But she just couldn't stop thinking about the baseball bat.

Kim Yerim didn't lie about being a batter, also about Son Chaeyoung was a pitcher. It was true. Of course, if she were smart enough, she would know that all of that basic information was up on the baseball club's website, so the fact that she didn't lie about that wasn't so surprising. Still, Sana didn't want to just dismiss it. She went all the way to another tensed conversation with the girl. She wouldn't want to waste what she got.

Standing up, Sana took one marker and walked to the whiteboard. They hadn't discussed the timeline. Which was a mistake, because it was quite a match.

They were both freshmen, so they only started their university life in March. They probably started joining the club in March too. Being both freshmen, batter and pitcher each, also sharing the same dorm on the same floor, it was only natural for them to practice together. The whole part made sense as Sana wrote them down.

In July, Kim Yerim bought the baseball bat. Sana assumed the girl mainly used it for her, _their_ , personal practices, out of the club's scheduled ones, since it wasn't obligatory for the members of the club to bring their own equipments because they were already provided by the club. Kim Yerim also said she left it many times in Son Chaeyoung's room, and there was nothing wrong with that. They were both girls, same age, same batch, same club. Spending a lot of time in each other's rooms was nothing out of ordinary.

Early August, Son Chaeyoung lost the baseball bat. Kim Yerim left it in her room and it never returned. There was no specific reason given and by that Son Chaeyoung started isolating herself, stopped going to the practices and avoided others, including Yerim. It also made sense.

Sana paused before writing it down. Early to middle of August could've been the time Son Chaeyoung figured out that she was pregnant.

She had discussed it with Seungwan some times before, asking if a possibility of Son Chaeyoung having no idea of her own pregnancy exists, but Seungwan insisted the girl knew about it. The symptoms at that stage was obvious. The team indeed didn't find anything related to pregnancy in the dorm, such as a pregnancy test pack, but it didn't mean Son Chaeyoung had no idea. She already knew. Anything could happen to some small pregnancy test pack. She could've thrown it away, somewhere far, nobody knew for sure.

Son Chaeyoung was fifteen to sixteen weeks pregnant when she was murdered. If she found out about her pregnancy on early August, she was around twelve to thirteen weeks into her pregnancy. At that stage she could no longer dismiss the symptoms. It was near the end of the first trimester. Things were already obvious that time.

If Kim Yerim was telling the truth, then it was evident what the reason behind the drastic changes in Son Chaeyoung after she lost the baseball bat was. Sana knew no one wanted to be pregnant at the age of nineteen; but this just further proved it. Son Chaeyoung didn't want to be pregnant. It was an unwanted pregnancy. And Sana hoped the partner didn't want it either; so it could be a strong potential reason behind the murder.

Sana sighed. _But who is the guy?_

The only fingerprints found inside Son Chaeyoung's room were her own, Kim Yerim and Seo Eunyoung. Sana had suspected Kim Daewoo, Lee Jaerim and Moon Jaesung before, but there was none of their fingerprint found inside the room or on any of the stuff. The three had also stated that even though they were friends with Son Chaeyoung, but not to the extent of entering each other's rooms since it would be weird. It would also be too easy if it were one of them. Sana could've figured it out way sooner if that were the case.

After putting the marker back on the table, Sana lied down on the couch. Things were nowhere near finished. Probably a good nap could make her think better.

-

The sight of Mina's shoes being placed not-so-neatly near the door wasn't something Sana was familiar with. She frowned as she bent down to place the shoes back in their places near hers. Mina wasn't the type to carelessly take her shoes off before coming inside. Something had happened. And Sana was right when she found the girl lying helplessly with countless of tissues around her.

"Oh, look who gets to fall sick first _again_ this month."

Mina groaned, brushing the pile of tissues off the bed, "Hello to you too."

"The last time I got sick was like, months ago," Sana leaned on Mina's bedroom door, "you can't blame me for the virus anymore."

"That's because you've been jobless all along."

Smiling, Sana put her purse on the living room's couch, before checking Mina's temperature. It was a usual fever and nothing too high. Seeing the half-empty glass of water on the nightstand and the crumpled tissue beside it, Sana already knew Mina had taken the meds.

"You should at least change," Sana said, finding a clean set of pajama from the wardrobe and throwing it to the bed where Mina was lying, "how did you get home, anyway?"

"I just caught a cold, not dying. I took the bus just fine."

"Hmm," Sana sat down on the bed, observing the girl, "you need a haircut."

"No, I'm growing my bangs out."

It made Sana raise her brows, "What?"

Mina hissed at having to repeat her sentence, "I'm growing my bangs out. I don't want to have bangs."

"That's new." Sana brushed the hair, "You and your cute bangs were never separated before until I forgot how your forehead looks like."

"Ugh, stop it." Mina weakly pushed Sana's hand away as the detective laughed, "Leave. I'm trying to hibernate."

Sana stood up, "Alright. I know later tonight you'll wake up feeling all hungry and miserable so I'll prepare the food for you to put it on microwave, okay? Also please change. Sleeping with jeans on is something you hate."

Mina just hummed so Sana decided to leave her alone. It only took her fifteen minutes to change and completely dozed off. Sana tucked her carefully on the bed, careful not to wake her up. Both of them regularly fell sick at least once each month that they started taking notes of who did first. It was mostly because of their lack of self-care, but neither of them minded. Mina was right, though. Sana hadn't been sick for good three months because she wasn't too busy. This month, she wasn't sure.

Sana gathered Mina's belongings that were carelessly dropped on the floor and on the bed. Her backpack was lying upside down and some of the stuffs fell out. Sana took care of it before she noticed the wallet. Mina kept a photo of them inside. Sana kept the same photo too inside her own wallet. It always made her feel warm.

She was almost finished tidying the girl's room when she heard the monitor beeping. There was a guest. Sana froze for a moment. They hardly ever had a guest.

Dropping the tons of tissue to the trash bin, Sana anxiously checked the monitor. There was a girl outside. Sana didn't recognize her. But she didn't look dangerous or threatening so Sana still opened the door eventually.

"Good evening," The girl bowed and Sana did the same, "I'm Lisa, Mina's friend."

"Mina's friend," Sana opened the door wider, realizing she had been a bit rude, and _Mina's friend_? Since when did Mina started bringing friends to their place?

"You must be Detective Minatozaki Sana. Mina's..."

The girl named Lisa hesitated. Sana quickly said, "Mother."

"Yes. Mother. Mina's mother."

Sana noticed the awkward look and tried to make the girl less nervous with a laugh, "Not the real one, of course. You know that, right?"

"Yes, absolutely, Detective. So um," Lisa reached for her bag and grabbed a small blue notebook, that Sana recognized as Mina's, "Mina was sick and skipped the last class today. I didn't want her to miss much so I, um, helped a bit with her notes,"

"Ah, thank you so much, Lisa." Sana accepted it, feeling really glad, she couldn't lie through her smile, "You're really kind."

"It's nothing, Detective. Mina's always a help during our projects too, so,"

Sana nodded, still smiling wide.

"And I also apologize that I came here without notifying you before, Detective. Mina did say she never really brings friends home."

"No, no, it's fine. Yeah, we rarely have guests but it's fine, really."

Lisa fidgeted with her fingers awkwardly as she avoided Sana's eyes. Too nervous, probably. Compared to Mina's other friends whom Sana had met before in her campus, Lisa was much braver actually.

"I should probably go, it's already late."

"Sure. Also I can't thank you enough for this." Sana raised the notebook in her hand, "Are you taking the bus?"

"It's nothing, Detective. And yes, I'll be taking the bus. So," Lisa bowed and Sana did the same, "Good evening, Detective."

"Be careful on your way home. And I'll make sure Mina treats you some food later when she's healed."

Sana kept her eyes on the girl until she took the elevator. Still smiling, she was a little too curious that she opened the notebook to check. Lisa's penmanship was really nice. And the added sentence made Sana a little too happy than usual.

_Get well soon, Mina ♥_

"Oh, wow," Sana couldn't contain her giggles.

She was still giggling when her phone suddenly rang inside her back pocket. It soon disappeared when she saw the name on the screen.

_"Good everning, Detective Minatozaki. I'm Lee Hyunjae, Son family's lawyer. I apologize for calling you so late."_

"It's fine, Mr. Lee." Sana sat down on the couch, "Is there anything I can help?"

_"No, Detective. It's nothing like that. I just want to inform you that the funeral of Miss Son Chaeyoung will be held starting tomorrow for three days. And the family wants you to come, as Mrs. Ji Seyoung herself requests to see you personally."_

Sana was mum for a moment.

_"It will be held privately in Son family's own funeral home. I will send you the address. Or do you prefer us picking you up, Detective?"_

"No, no, it won't be necessary. Just send me the address, Mr. Lee."

_"I will do, Detective. Thank you so much for your time and consideration."_

"No problem, Mr. Lee."

Sana put her phone away after the call ended and messages were sent to Jinyoung and Dahyun about the funeral. It would be her first time meeting the family. They had been very kind to her, through the lawyers, offering help here and there, but Sana couldn't really pay back. She rarely had this kind of treatment from a victim's family that she felt really bad about it. She should really work harder and catch the culprit for good.

A tired sigh she let out as she stood up to put Mina's notebook in the girl's bedroom. Another sleepless night was waiting for her.

-

People said the first day of a funeral was normally empty because it was when the news only started spreading. Being one of the few guests that were actually informed before the funeral started made Sana feel somehow nervous. Most families of the victims would see her and the team as scary officers so they were almost never wanted in the funerals. Sana could understand them better than the ones who appreciated her, honestly.

"I heard the family also wants Chou Tzuyu to come." Jinyoung said, gulping a little because he was also nervous.

"It will be fine. It's a private funeral after all. No need to worry about the press."

The Son family's own funeral home was a little far from the center of Seoul. The place was hereditary and had been used for years by the family. After almost an hour of drive, they finally arrived. The guards recognized them instantly and they were guided inside.

Son Chaeyoung's father and brother, Son Haewook and Son Wonhyuk were the Chief Mourners. The team paid their respect first before heading to the dining room. There were some people present and Sana didn't recognize any of them. Ji Seyoung, Son Chaeyoung's mother, was still nowhere in sight.

"Lawyer Lee said the rest of the big family won't be arriving before the third day." Dahyun said, tapping the table with her fingers, "They all mostly live in overseas."

"It's my first time coming to a victim's funeral. I mean, of course I'm happy but more like, honored, right, Sunbae?"

Sana nodded, "Yeah. The family is really nice. We need to work harder."

"Detective Minatozaki,"

Sana heard Lee Hyunjae's voice suddenly and turned around, standing up quickly, "Yes, Mr. Lee?"

"Mrs. Ji Seyoung would like to talk to you now, if you don't mind. And yes, just you, Detective."

Another nod, "Sure. I would love to."

There was another private dining room for the closest family members. The door was opened for Sana and she was met with Ji Seyoung inside. Sana bowed deeply and took a seat across the middle-aged woman, who was smiling at her, though it was far from reaching her eyes.

"Detective Minatozaki, I've heard a lot about you." She started, "When my lawyers said it would be you, I was very relieved."

Sana's lips were pursed at the compliment, "I believe I'm just doing my job, Mrs. Ji. And I always get help from people around me."

There was an empty chuckle, "Always refusing compliments, I see. My lawyers also said it was hard to convince you to let us help you."

"With all respect, Mrs. Ji, I don't think it is all necessary. I'm a police officer. There's no need for you to give more in order for me to do what I have to do."

Ji Seyoung nodded, still smiling, "Our family was taught to always express our gratitude. For you, it may be just another case of someone died and you have to find who did it. But for us, it's our family who was taken from us. A part of us. Someone we loved and cherished. Someone I love and cherish; my daughter."

Sana was silent when Ji Seyoung's eyes traveled down to the dining table. Watching her so vulnerable was a hard thing to do but it would be very rude to look away. Sana had faced many sad families before and it never became easy for her. She herself might be numb, that she was used with people dying every single day, but it would be never justified of her not respecting others' grief.

"If my daughter were still here she would laugh at me for saying that out loud." Ji Seyoung continued, looking at Sana again.

"Why would she do that?"

"I'm not even sure if she knows I love her, Detective."

Sana became silent again.

"I've been anything but a mother her whole life. I guess even people out there know how people like us are like. I don't even remember when the last time I sat down with her face to face in the dining table like what we're doing right now was. The same goes to my son as well. And I feel really lucky I still have the chance to fix things with him. Unlike with Chaeyoung."

"I'm very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Ji."

The woman nodded again, taking a deep breath, "When I saw your name in the headlines of many news some years back, I never thought someday it would be the same for me and my family. To be involved with you. To be in the same headlines with you. I know it isn't easy to be what you are now. And finding who did this to my daughter would be another difficult task ahead."

Sana didn't deny that. It was true. She was glad Ji Seyoung acknowledged it.

"We are sorry we can't be much of a help, Detective. I can guess there are a lot of things that you want to know about my daughter, but we can't give it to you. Not because we don't want to, but it's because we also don't know her at all." The eyes screamed sorrow and Sana tried her very best not to look away, "We have so many regrets. But we can't turn back the time. The least we can do is to bring justice to whoever did this."

"We will work hard to find them, Mrs. Ji. It wouldn't be easy, but I can assure you we wouldn't give up easily. It might take some time, a little longer than you expected. Maybe months, even years, and even I can't promise you any closure, but we will keep trying. That, you can have my words."

The smile was present once more, as the woman suddenly reached for Sana's hand on the table, holding it firmly, "I believe you, Detective. And I would like it if you let us help you, anything we can. Most importantly, I hope you won't hurt yourself like what happened years back."

The right hand that wasn't being held was clenched, as Sana gave her a firm nod, "I'll take care of myself, I promise."

Ji Seyoung squeezed her hand tightly before letting it go with a sigh. She then gestured to the guard by the door and suddenly some dishes were served. Sana was a bit taken aback and it made the woman smile again.

"I have said that I would like it if you let us help you. So, have some feast, Detective. We also took care of the other detectives. You don't have to worry."

Before Sana could say anything, Ji Seyoung rose up from her seat and was about to leave the room.

"Mrs. Ji, wait--"

"Oh, also, I was wondering,"

Sana didn't continue talking.

"Do you have someone you love, Detective?"

Sana's lips parted at the unexpected question, but she still answered, "Yes, I do, Mrs. Ji."

The smile was still bitter, but it was firm, and it kind of took Sana off guard.

"We'd love to protect them for you."

-

Sana was a bit self-conscious inside that private dining table with one guard who never smiled, but she was hungry, so she decided to just be grateful for the food. It was the best food she ate for the longest time. She was shamelessly full when she exited the room to go back to her team in the open dining room. But her juniors were not alone, and Sana wasn't ready to be reminded that of course a rich family would hire a private investigator.

The one she had been avoided the most, Bae Joohyun, stood up and gave her a slight bow, followed by her assistant. She asked if she could have some talk, and that was how they ended up being in that corner of the funeral home along with some guards who never smiled, as usual.

"I believe you've talked with Mrs. Ji."

Sana nodded, looking a bit irritated at how Bae Joohyun crossed her arms, "I have."

"Rich families," Bae Joohyun mumbled, with a sarcastic chuckle, and Sana was a bit surprised at that, "regretting things way too damn late, like they always do."

Sana peeked at the guards, afraid if they heard, "Don't we all."

Bae Joohyun stared at her with a weird smile, "I believe you know way more than me but I just want you to know that I've been handling rich families since forever. It's basically the same pattern over and over again."

"And you're sick of it?"

"Well, who wouldn't be." A shrug, "When you get to do one job repeatedly for years, you'll eventually get sick of it. You're a human, Detective. Not a robot."

"And your point is?"

"Whoa, easy there," Bae Joohyun threw both arms up jokingly, "there's nothing too serious with the way I talk. I just thought you'd be able to relate but, yeah, I guess not."

Sana muffled her sigh and put both hands on her hips. The great private investigator was wasting her time. Sana would rather sitting down doing nothing in the office than talking to the mighty Bae Joohyun.

"I know it's not always a good experience." Bae Joohyun started again, "Working with private investigators."

The reply was fast, "Good that you realize."

A cringe, "Well, to be fair, police officers are a pain in the ass too, so we're even."

"How so?"

"Excuse me? _How so_? Really? Do you really have no idea or are you just trying to protect your pride as one of them?"

Sana was deeply frowning then, "What are you trying to say to me?"

"I'm saying we really need to work together this time! Geez, you're so rigid you can't even take small talks. Didn't you eat earlier? You should chill a little. We're not in some crime scene at the moment."

The argument was about to come out but Sana held it. Bae Joohyun didn't mean any harm. It was one of the rare times that private investigators approached her first to work together. Most time it didn't end well, Sana knew the risks, but at least there was an effort. Sana just simply had to appreciate it first.

"We've been working separately but it's not useless, believe me. I purposely adjusted my scope of work in order not to clash with yours."

That got Sana interested, "How so?"

An eyebrow was raised, "Wow, we've only been talking for three minutes and I already noticed your habit of asking _how so_."

Sana ignored that.

"You've been basically looking for an external cause of the murder. Is it her friends? Lovers? Pets? Even some idol she likes? Right? As for me, I've been looking for an internal cause. Her family."

It was Sana's turn to cross her arms.

"The family was the one who hired me so they can't avoid me. Different from you, I actually can make them do things for me, because that's what they hired me for. I've been investigating them long enough that I have some things to give you, but only, if you have things to give back to me. We're also running out of time. It's been like, three weeks? Almost a month? Still no clue. What a waste of time."

"Is it useful for us?"

"Of course it is! I didn't spend my time running around compiling useless things."

Sana was still contemplating.

"Look, I know what you're thinking." Bae Joohyun said again, "You don't know who I am. You don't know my track record. You don't know what cases I've worked on. So unlike me, who knows who you are and what you've done, you can't believe me easily. But trust me on this one, both of us want to finish this as soon as possible. You've heard Ji Seyoung and how desperate she is. Some billionaire offering cash money around to find who murdered her daughter. If that isn't enough to convince you, I don't know what is."

Sana knew Bae Joohyun was right. She might be a bit irritating, but she was a private investigator and she knew what to do. There was nothing wrong in working together, although the formal protocol would need some adjustment, but it was an easy thing to handle, and Sana could leave it to Yoo Jungyeon.

"I always get bad experiences with private investigators." Sana didn't know why she decided to be honest, "It was always me who offered them to work together. Not really together, together, just to share some useful information for the sake of the case. But they mostly refused. It was because they wanted to be one who found the culprit, not me. And I can understand that. They've been paid bucks. They have to keep some pride."

The sneer was unexpected, "Can't imagine someone to actually refuse to work with Detective Minatozaki Sana. I know in the end you won. You don't have to tell me that."

"Don't think too highly of me." Sana shook her head, "I'm just a pain in the ass, right?"

A laugh, "Right. So what do you say, Detective?"

Bae Joohyun extended her hand. Sana didn't like handshakes because of her scar but everyone already knew anyway.

"Sure." The hold was certain, "Let's finish this."

****


End file.
